Five Pennsylvania men were convicted as part of an alleged carjacking ring that committed dozens of carjackings, shootings, and two murders.
The conviction was announced on Thursday by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Five men from the Philadelphia region were prosecuted in federal court for committing many armed carjackings and selling stolen vehicles to customers who exported them overseas.
Mikal McCracken, 24; Amin Muse, 24; Aleem Abdul-Hakim, 23; Dean Fosque, 28; and Kavon Coleman, 23, were all found guilty at trial.
“These defendants headed one of the most widespread and heinous carjacking rings in American history, terrorizing and, in some cases, killing their victims.” When considering the sheer scale and volume of violent robberies, this prosecution may be the most successful carjacking prosecution in the history of the Department of Justice,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf. “The dread campaign is over. The streets we walk and drive on are now safer thanks to the incredible efforts of the FBI and all of our law enforcement colleagues on the Carjacking Task Force.”
Federal authorities claim that between October 2021 and October 2022, gangs of revolving carjackers, including the five individuals on trial, performed scores of carjackings at gunpoint. Many of the carjackings occurred in Southwest and Northeast Philadelphia, as well as nearby suburbs.
McCracken, Muse, and Abdul-Hakim are also charged with shooting and killing a former US Marine on February 6, 2022. Days later, McCraken and Muse murdered a locksmith who made a replacement key for a stolen car, assuming he would collaborate with police investigating the first murder.
“This case represented some of the very worst of what we saw during the rise of violent carjackings: calculated, coordinated, and completely indifferent to human life,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel stated. “These individuals didn’t just steal cars — they terrorized neighborhoods, took innocent lives, and attempted to silence witnesses to cover their crimes.”
The men will be sentenced at a later date, with the maximum possible term of life in jail.
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