Latin Kings gang leader and previous Greensboro City Council candidate Jorge Cornell was sentenced to 28 years in prison by a U.S. District Court judge Nine months after being found guilty on federal racketeering charges.
Maybe it’s me —you know I how do — but the N&R account was overly sympathetic to Cornell. Check the lede:
Jorge Cornell, founder of North Carolina’s Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, choked back tears.
Behind him were about two dozen supporters, among them clergymen, educators and his teenage daughter.
Cornell is a man of peace, he insisted. He never ordered anyone to commit a violent act, he said, and any crimes that members of his gang may have committed happened behind his back.
…The 36-year-old gang leader spoke for about 20 minutes. He wept as he accused police of conspiring against him. He also said he forgave those who testified against him during his trial.
We also get a quote from the Rev. Nelson Johnson about how “moved he was by what he saw in the courtroom.” Hey, in spite of Cornell’s 20-minute speech, maybe the sentencing wasn’t all that exciting and the reporter was struggling to fill his word count, so he employed a little dramatic embellishment. It happens.
