Five Philly men who committed 60 carjackings and 2 murders were sentenced to decades in prison

Five men who were part of one of the most violent and prolific carjacking crews in recent Philadelphia history were sentenced this week to at least several decades in federal prison, capping a criminal rampage that victimized dozens of people.

Over the course of about four months beginning in 2021, prosecutors said, the men — along with several other coconspirators — committed about 60 carjackings and two murders across the region. The crimes were relentless and random, with members of the conspiracy ambushing unsuspecting drivers at gunpoint nearly every day, then stealing their keys, wallets, phones, and cars, often forcing them to send money over digital payment apps, and, in some cases, shooting at them.

One victim was attacked after leaving a birthday party. Another, an immigrant, said that after his car and wallet were stolen, he had fraudulent bank accounts opened in his name — and couldn’t get a passport for two years because his green card was also stolen, making it impossible for him to fly home to visit his children.

The crime spree also led to killings: In early 2022, several crew members looking to steal a Toyota attacked 60-year-old George Briscella in Northeast Philadelphia, then fatally shot him. Briscella, a Marine Corps veteran, had been driving the SUV to visit his mother.

Days later, the crew killed Aiah Gbessay — a locksmith who helped create a key for Briscella’s car after it had been stolen. Crew members were worried Gbessay might talk to the police.

U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy said the group’s actions — which were laid out in remarkable detail during a two-month trial earlier this year — were “outlandish” and “completely intolerable.”

“It was a multimonth, appalling reign of terror that destroyed people’s lives, and ended two people’s lives, and had the worst consequences on their families,” Murphy said.

Relatives of Briscella and Gbessay spoke at sentencing hearings this week for the defendants: Mikal McCracken, Amin Muse, Aleem Abdul-Hakim, Kavon Coleman, and Dean Fosque.

Briscella’s wife and one of his sons said he was a devoted husband, son, father, and grandfather — someone who worked every day to take care of his relatives and was kind to a large group of friends and even strangers.

“He was an everyday guy: ordinary in every way, but special in so many ways,” said his oldest son, Tony.

Gbessay, meanwhile, was an immigrant from Sierra Leone who his relatives said was doing honest work in West Philadelphia. They said his death has significantly affected his son and wife, who had only emigrated to the city a few months before he was killed.

“He was a great brother, a great dad,” said his brother, Komba, later adding: “He was a hard-working man. He will be missed.”

The defendants had a range of reactions to their fates.

Fosque apologized to the victims, saying he wished he could take away their pain.

“I can take responsibility for the choices I’ve made to move forward and work every day to become a better person,” he said in court Friday.

McCracken, however, denied being involved in the killings of Briscella or Gbessay, and said the evidence against him — including cell phone records, surveillance videos, and testimony from a key coconspirator — was unreliable or even false.

“I promise to God: I did not murder your family member,” he said. “The worst feeling in this world is knowing the type of person you are, but people not seeing that when they look at you.”

Murphy sentenced McCracken, Muse, and Abdul-Hakim to life in prison plus additional terms of several decades. All were convicted of participating in the attack on Briscella, and McCracken was found guilty of ordering Gbessay’s killing.

Coleman and Fosque — who were convicted of participating in some of the carjackings but not the murders — received prison sentences of 35 and 86 years, respectively.

Three other defendants have cases that have not yet reached the sentencing phase, including a man who served as a star witness at trial, Jonathan Akubu.

Akubu was the first member of the crew to get arrested: In 2022, police used ballistics evidence and cell phone records to tie him to the murders of Briscella and Gbessay.

Shortly after being taken into custody, authorities said, he started talking — telling investigators about the dozens of crimes he and other crew members committed, often in striking detail.

He recalled episodes with unusual precision, authorities said, outlining who was involved in each incident and how the crimes unfolded. Beyond linking dozens of incidents to the same group of participants, he also gave investigators something of a motive, saying his crew would sell the stolen cars to other men who would ship them to unspecified countries in Africa to be resold.

Much of what Akubu said was later corroborated by additional evidence, including cell phone records connected to his coconspirators. Authorities also recovered one of the cars Akubu mentioned in a shipping container headed overseas, further bolstering the notion that his group was fueling a trans-Atlantic market for stolen vehicles.

Earlier this year, Akubu became a central figure at the trial for his five co-defendants, spending more than a day on the stand recalling his role in the violent conspiracy — including by describing how he’d lured Gbessay into West Philadelphia, then repeatedly shot him to death.

Akubu pleaded guilty but has not yet been sentenced. Prosecutors said as part of his plea deal and cooperation agreement, he will receive a sentence of at least 35 years in prison, though it could be much more.

Murphy, the judge, said the scale of the group’s actions was difficult to fathom. In addition to killing Briscella and Gbessay, he said, the men committed crimes so often that they actually carjacked one man twice — and shot him in the same leg both times.

The group’s wrongdoing will affect victims for years to come, Murphy said, which is why, he said, the penalties needed to be significant.

“The whole scheme together speaks to a real disregard for our fellow man,” he said, “and trying to live together in a civilized way.”