A South Los Angeles gang member was sentenced to a dozen years behind bars Tuesday for conspiring to distribute narcotics, including crack cocaine and methamphetamine, which were sold at his storefront.
Andrew “Batman” Tate, 56, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one federal count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He is the lead defendant in an indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court targeting the gang’s members and associates.
According to his plea agreement, Tate owned a business named TNN Market, where he sold methamphetamine, crack cocaine and powder cocaine. He and co-defendant Bobby Lorenzo Reed, 59, who owned the South Los Angeles-based store H&E Smoke and Snack Shop, referred customers to one another, supplied one another, and directed their employees to engage in drug sales and referrals in dozens of narcotics transactions from June 2017 to May 2018, court papers show.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has won convictions in the cases of all 10 defendants.
Reed pleaded guilty two years ago to federal criminal charges and was sentenced to 10 years behind bars.