A Bronx woman known as “Queen” was hit with racketeering and murder charges this week and accused of being a leader of a New York chapter of the Bloods gang.
Candice Johnston, 44, appeared Monday in a New York court, where she was arraigned on charges of murder while using a gun, murder in support of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to traffic guns.
Ms. Johnston, who goes by the alias “Queen,” led a group known as the Red Life Militia, which is a subset of United Blood Nation and the nationwide Bloods gang, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
On May 31, 2017, she allegedly ordered a subordinate gang member to kill and rob 45-year-old Noel Farrow, a former supplier of drugs to the gang.
Farrow was shot in the back of the head, and his apartment was deliberately set on fire afterwards.
The racketeering activities of the Red Life Militia, which took place from at least 2012 through 2023, according to the criminal complaint, included assault, drug dealing, gun trafficking, murder, promoting prostitution and robbery.
The U.S. attorney’s office also said that Ms. Johnston received guns that were bought in North Carolina and illegally transported into New York.
Ms. Johnston faces a maximum sentence of life in prison or death if she is found guilty of murder in support of racketeering. She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of racketeering conspiracy and up to five years in prison if convicted of trafficking guns into New York from outside the state.
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