The Hidden Valley Kings Gang
The Hidden Valley Kings Gang got its start in the Charlotte, NC area in the early 1990’s, taking their name from the neighborhood they chose as an ideal place from which to grow their drug trafficking business. Bordered on the east by Tyron Street and on the west by Sugar Creek Road, and with both roads connecting to I-85 to the north, Hidden Valley neighborhood provided the easy access vital to a thriving drug trade.
Throughout the 1990’s and into 2000, the Hidden Valley Kings Gang was locally known in the Charlotte area for their gang activity, but it wasn’t until March 27, 2007, when the U.S. Department of Justice issued a 48-count Indictment against the gang for drug trafficking charges, that the Hidden Valley Kings Gang finally made a name for themselves.
The Indictment, filed March 27 and unsealed three days later, charged 20 gang members, along with their associates, with conspiring to divide the neighborhood into territories to control drug sales of cocaine, crack, pot and ecstasy. It alleged that the members would require dealers to pay a block “tax” to be able to sell drugs in the Kings’ “territory.” The Indictment further stated that the gang operated a “hierarchy” in which its top leaders were “Original Kings,” the next level of leaders were called “Original Gangsters” and leaders below that were known as “Baby Gangsters.”
Between December 9 and 11, 2008, all the remaining members of the gang named in the original indictment, who did not enter into previous plea bargaining agreements, were sentenced on charges of drug conspiracy and/or drug distribution and federal firearms charges. The gang’s oldest member, Roscoe Abell, who earlier entered into a plea bargain in July, received a sentence of 20 years, with 50 years of supervised release.
