T&A Crips member who led Columbus-to-Portsmouth drug operation sentenced to 15 years in prison

 COLUMBUS, Ohio – One of 19 defendants charged in a Columbus gang-related racketeering conspiracy was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 180 months in prison.

Eric Henderson, Sr., 41, participated extensively in planning and organizing the gang’s Portsmouth, Ohio, drug operation by recruiting accomplices and co-conspirators to carry out the trafficking.

T&A Crips derived its name from Trevitt and Atcheson streets in the King-Lincoln District of Columbus, where its members predominantly reside. T&A controlled the neighborhood through intimidation, fear and violence. Gang members were expected to retaliate with acts of violence when their members and associates were disrespected, threatened, intimidated or subjected to acts of violence.

Specifically, the co-conspirators in this case are charged with five murders:

the murder of Franky Tention on July 1, 2012, in the area of 431 Ellison Street;

the murder of William Moore on March 15, 2013;

the murder of Marvin Ector on December 23, 2013, on East 5^th Avenue;

the murder of Quincy Story on January 24, 2015; and

the murder of Deaonte Fisher on March 4, 2016.

T&A engaged in a long-term operation of consistent transportation of heroin and crack from Columbus to Portsmouth, Ohio, for sale in various “trap houses.” In the summer of 2015, T&A, under the leadership of Henderson, Sr. began to deliver large amounts of heroin, crack and oxycodone from Columbus to Portsmouth on a weekly basis.  Female associates and drug-addicted “mules” transported the drugs at the direction of T&A members and associates. The drugs were then sold on a daily basis out of a number of “trap houses” in Portsmouth controlled by T&A members.

Henderson, Sr., also known as “Easy,” pleaded guilty in March 2019 to conspiracy to commit racketeering and conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin. 

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Roland Herndon, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Chris Hoffman, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Columbus Police Chief Tom Quinlan; United States Marshal Pete Tobin and Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson. Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin W. Kelley and Noah R. Litton are representing the United States in this case.