Speaker 1: M hmm, I walked straight line shackle chain, oh gluesome girdie.
It's calling my name.
Speaker 2: There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice
as the hill Stream game wrangled the three.
Speaker 3: I'm here, be.
Speaker 4: By, here to die inside these walls, inside the wild.
Haven't went more girls as I'm.
Speaker 5: Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast
one hundred and forty two years in the making, the
complete story of America's bloodiest present. I'm Jim Chapman, and
today we are going to talk about a resident at
Angola who at one time was the most feared gangster
in New Orleans. And his name was Telly Hankton. Now
it was twenty eleven when Telly Hankton really got on
the rail anywhere outside of New Orleans. Now, inside of
New Orleans, he was very well known. But how he
got to be a household name was when the then
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrew held a press conference after
the murder of a bar manager at a dakery shop.
This was on South Claiborne Avenue in the French Quarter
and it's called Jazz Dakri. Now, before we go any further,
let me quickly explain something as it relates to how
things work inside of New Orleans. The gang activity, the
drug activity typically stay out of the French Quarter, and
there's good reason for that. New Orleans economy is largely
dependent on tourism. Nearly twenty million people traveled to the
Crescent City each year. Super Bowls are played there. Taylor
Swift toured there in twenty twenty four. Loan tourists over
ten billion dollars with a B inside the city. So
there's an understanding with the gangsters and the drug dealers.
They know don't fuck around in the French Quarter. And
the reason for all of that is crime inside the
French Quarter keeps the tourist out, and the powers of
Bee they ain't having any of that inside the French Quarter.
So when this bar manager was killed, the political powers
they took notice big time and the first thing they
wanted to figure out was what led to this public killing. Well,
the victim in this case was a guy by the
name of Curtis Matthews. Curtis Matthews had a brother, his
name was John Matthews. Now John Matthews incidentally owned that
bar on South Clayborne. He had been shot seventeen times
while in his home prior to the murder of his brother,
and the reason for that was John Matthews was set
to testify against Telly Hankton in a murder trial in
the death of a twenty three year old. His name
was Darnell Stewart. He was shot three years prior to
John Matthews's brother getting shot Curtis in front of the
same bar. Now, miraculously, John Matthews, despite being shot seventeen times,
he did survive.
Speaker 6: But it wasn't hard.
Speaker 5: For NOPD to put together the pieces of the puzzle.
They knew what time it was and when Curtis Matthews
got killed, they instantly knew that Telly Hankton was behind it.
Mitch Landrew actually said at that press conference quote, I'm
sending this message to Telly Hankton and his family and anyone.
Speaker 6: Else associated with this. We are coming for you.
Speaker 5: So if you notice, Landry specifically said Telly Hanton and
his family. And that's because Telly Hanton at this point
he was head of a criminal organization where many of
his direct family members were involved. Nakiah Hanton, Shirley Hanton,
Thomas Hanton, Andre Hankton, Troy Hanton, and numerous others, most
in their thirties. There were thirteen in all that would
be indicted by the Feds using RICO just a year later.
So federal prosecutors would claim that Telly Hancton had built
a criminal enterprise. Now, he took over this enterprise from
a relative of his and kind of a mentor, and
he went by the nickname Cup but for the prior
six years. As a matter of fact, in two thousand
and six, out of his house on Josephine Street in
what's known as the Central City area of New Orleans,
he built a forty three million dollar empire. So interesting
side note, one of those names I just mentioned above
as being indicted was Troy Hankton, and Troy was actually
recruited and received a full scholarship to play football for
arguably the best coach in college football history, Nick Saban
at LSU.
Speaker 6: He actually went.
Speaker 5: There, but it didn't work out for him.
Speaker 6: Because he had some medical issues.
Speaker 5: Ended up transferring to Southern and left Southern shortly thereafter.
He returned to New Orleans. And you got to live
up to the name, right, I actually watched an interview
with Troy Hankton recently, and this guy, he's actually really
put together and seems to be squared away, not what
you would expect. So you may want to check that
out if you get some time. Just so on YouTube.
Speaker 6: But back to it.
Speaker 5: According to federal prosecutors, starting in two thousand and six,
a bona fide turf war was going down in the
Josephine Street area in Telly Hankton and y'all, this is
a year post Katrina, right, Telly is hanging out on
Josephine Street and there's a dry by shooting and an
attempt to kill him when he is shot at, And
it was not long at all before Telly figured out
who was behind it. I mean, the streets talk. All
you got to do is ask questions, especially when you're
Telly Hankton, and come to find out it was a
rival by the name of Darvin Bessie. So a week later,
Darvin Bessie is shot and killed allegedly by Telly on MLK.
Speaker 6: Boulevard in New Orleans.
Speaker 5: Now, word on the street was at the time, if
you shoot at the King, don't miss, And the king
at that time was Telly Hankton.
Speaker 6: Then two months later.
Speaker 5: In June of two thousand and six, Telly Hanton's name
surfaced nationally when five teenagers were shot dead at the
corner of Josephine Street in Daniel Street, and because this
took place on the corner of Josephine, Telly's name would surface.
He ran Josephine Street in New Orleans. He and his
family now eventually an associate of the Hanktons. It was
a guy named Mike, Mike Anderson. He would take the
right for the killings. But the Feds, even to this day,
they say that Telly was the one who fired a
total of twenty one bullets into these teens. In two
thousand and seven, a rival gang, they decide they want
to make a run to what's known as a very
popular snowball stand in that area of New Orleans, and
it's known as a Red Rooster. Now, what they did
not know at the time was that the Hantons were there.
As a matter of fact, Troy and Telly Hankton were
there at the time, So they pull in. Telly Hankton
spots them, He alerts Troy, and allegedly they ambushed the
three men as they were leaving the Red Rooster. Now
only one of the three, a man by the name
of Kareem Peters, was hit by any gunfire. But this
is the streets again, and this would not be the
end of that.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 5: Incidentally, again, Telly Hankton, former LSU football player, was allegedly
involved in that. So about three months later, as you
would expect, payback ensues when George cup Hanton, the guy
who was the mentor for Telly, he was a cousin
of his, He was washing his car at a car
wash in that area and he was shot dead by
the same three men that were shot at by the
Hanktons outside of the Red Rooster snowball stand.
Speaker 3: Jim, did you see what happened in Texas today?
Speaker 5: Wait before you tell me that, let me tell you
what happened in New York.
Speaker 3: It cannot be as crazy as the case I told
you about yesterday in Louisiana.
Speaker 5: You know what, we should do a podcast.
Speaker 3: About it, and with that we did. Crime War Weekly
covers the crime news headlines that have dominated the week.
Speaker 5: We cover trending crimes from all over the country and
even sprinkle in a few globally.
Speaker 3: Crime War Weekly is available now wherever you listen to
your podcasts.
Speaker 5: Simply by searching Crime War Weekly or clicking the link
in the description of this podcast. So all of that
led to the killing in two thousand and eight at
the Daker Bar. That led to the seventeen shots fired
in to the owner of that Dakery bar years later
when he was set to testify against Telly, and that
led to Curtis Matthews getting killed in front of that
Dakery Bar. And that led to Mayor Mitch Landrew calling
out the Hanktons in twenty eleven, and that led to
the indictments of thirteen members of the Hankton family and
close assasiates in twenty.
Speaker 6: Twelve of rico charges.
Speaker 5: Now, when they got indicted, Tilly had nine counts. Thomas
Hankton also had nine counts. A guy by the name
of Walter Porter who went by Arkle of all things.
He was the lead assassin allegedly for the Hantons, and
he had fourteen counts against him. Even Telly's mother, Shirley,
was indicted for lying to a federal grand jury. So
what happened. So we're gonna get into the indictments just quickly.
I'm going to tell you what happened to these guys.
Telly Hanton as head of the organization. He received a
federal life sentence for convictions that included three counts of
murder in aid of racketeering, and that was in addition
to a separate state life sentence he was already serving
for the two thousand and eight murder of Darnel Stewart.
Andre Hanton, who is Telly's cousin, he received a life sentence,
though some of his convictions were later vacated on appeal.
He had been found guilty of using a firearm to
cause a death in connection with the murder of Darnel Stewart.
Kevin Jackson got sentenced to life in prison. He was
convicted for his role in the murder of Jesse Reid,
who was another Hanton rival. Walter Erkele Porter, the hit
man for the gang that I told you was kind
of their go to guy. He was givenneral life sentences
for his conviction on numerous charges, all fourteen that he
was indicted, including multiple murders in aid of racketeering. Shirley Hanton,
Telly Hanton's mother. She pleaded guilty to racketeering and was
sentenced to sixty months five years in prison. Thomas Hanton,
a key leader in the drug dealing operation. He pleaded
guilty to racketeering and other charges, and he was sentenced
to twenty five years in prison. Now that was later
reduced to twenty years, and he had a lot of
time served there. Troy Hankton, the former LSU player and
the cousin of Telly Hankton that I've told you about.
He pleaded guilty to firearms conspiracy. He was sentenced to
fourteen years in prison. He's now out of prison. Julius Hankton,
in a separate case, was sentenced to forty years in
prison for a twenty fourteen manslaughter charge. An an interesting
side note on him, he was actually found dead in
his cell in Hunt Correctional Center. I never could find
out the exact cause of death, but I'll let you
use your imagination on that. Nikiah Hanckton, she was sentenced
to one hundred and thirty two months eleven years in
prison for racketeering in drug conspiracy. Another associate by the
name of Derek Smothers, he received a net sentence of
fourteen years, and Terrell Smothers was sentenced to twelve years
in prison for racketeering. And those were associates of the Hanktons.
So there you have that I wanted to bring you.
I know it's a little bit short, Believe me. I
could do a series a mile long on these guys,
but I had somebody reach out and they just wanted
information on who the Hanktons were, So I wanted to
bring you that today. They were a very big deal
in New Orleans as it relates to crime in the
mid two thousands and early two thousand's, most now in
prison or have served some serious prison time. And to
move on to something else that somebody asked me to
cover on Bloody and Gola, and that is the fact
that Angola is being used as an ice facility as
of right now. And I'm going to read you just
a few breaking headlines that came out in September regarding this,
because I haven't covered it. And the first one is
from the Louisiana Eliminator. This was on September third of
this year. It says a section of the Louisiana State
Penitentiary undergoing emergency repairs is being used to house immigration
and custom enforcement detainees that from Governor Jeff Landry. Jeff
Landry said the facility will house the worst of the
worst criminal illegal aliens arrested by ICE. A complex at
the state prison is already being used to house fifty
one detainees and has a total capacity of four hundred
and sixteen. Joining Landry at the present to make the
announcement were US Attorney General Pam Bondy, Homeland Security Secretary
Christy Nome, and ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheehan, who previously
served as Landry's Wildlife and Fishery Secretary. Quote, Louisiana, You're
going to be an example for the rest of the
country that from the age. Landry declared a state of
emergency in late July to allow an expedited repair of
Camp Jay at Angola. This four building complex has been
closed permanently since twenty eighteen, with its only use as
a quarantine site during COVID nineteen. And I've done an
episode on Camp Jay's search back and that was a
pretty wild place back.
Speaker 6: In the day.
Speaker 5: Neither the governor nor Nome shared whether the facility will
be used as a post conviction facility or as another
ICE detention center where detainees await charges. The detainees will
join more than four thousand inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary,
which stands on the site of a former slave plantation
that is a still working form today. It goes on
to say the Camp Jay section of the prison where
ice detainees are being held, was once known as the Dungeon.
It was designated as solitary confinement to segregate prisoners for
disciplinary reasons. Prison officials closed it seven years ago after
its cell locks malfunctioned, allowing inmates to evade security checks.
Dozens of weapons were discovered after its closure, and more
than eighty prison employees quit, retired, or refired related to
misconduct at Camp Jay. Though it was rumored Camp Jay
will be renamed Camp forty seven to honor President Donald Trump,
it is still instead been renamed Camp fifty seven in
honor of Landry, who is the fifty seventh governor of Louisiana.
The governor also referred to the facility as Louisiana Lockup,
a title that was featured prominently on an oversized license
plate that adorned the electern he bonding them used at
the press conference Landry's emergency order in late July suspended
State Procurement Code and Public Bid Law to allow officials
to secure any materials or mend any contracts needed to
respond to emergencies. Despite being asked by multiple reporters, Landry
would not disclose how much money the state spent on
renovations or operations, or whether the federal government would reimburse
the state for any cost. So that comes out and
it looks like some detainees are going to be locked
up there, and they were indeed locked up there, and
it wasn't long before they determined they didn't like bloody
Angola that much. And a headline came out it said
nineteen detainees launch hunger strike at Angola Ice Facility and
that from an advocacy group.
Speaker 6: This was from WFB Baton Roriage.
Speaker 5: It said nineteen people detained at the Louisiana Ice Processing
Center in Camp Jay at the Louisiana State Penitentiary have
entered the fourth day of a hunger strike. This according
to a press release from the Southeast Dignity Not Detention
Coalition That's a Mouthful and the National Immigration Project. The
group stated that the detainees are requesting medical and mental
health care, access to prescription medication, and basic necessities including
toilet paper, hygiene products, and clean water. They are also
seeking visitation from ICE officers to address concerns about conditions
inside of the facility. According to the release, detainees were
recently moved into Camp Jay, a unit shut down in
twenty eighteen, and advocates say the facility lacks essential services,
including a law library in religious programming. Some detainees with
chronic health conditions are reportedly not receiving medications. The organizations
said the end Goala facility was reopened earlier this month
as part of an expansion, and we got into all that,
so I won't get into that again. You know, when
you get these price releases and they're from advocacy groups,
got to kind of take a lot of that with
a grain of salt. I'm sure they maybe they were
doing hunger strikes, but officials they jumped on it pretty
quick on these allegations of a hunger strike and especially
the inhumane conditions, and they had a response. They said
recent misleading reports about the detainee treatment at Louisiana Lockup
in Camp fifty seven are unacceptable in creating a false
narrative about the facility's operations. There was no hunger strike
before the news outlets reported. One officials said on Sunday,
after the reports emerged, seventeen detainees refused their meals, though
only three continue to do so by Monday afternoon, according
to the statement, So they thought that was a good
idea to they really got hungry. This action appears to
be sparked by false narratives in the media that put
that idea in the detainees' heads, the statement said. Southeast
Dignity Non Detention Coalition maintained that a hunger strike is ongoing.
Speaker 6: Quote.
Speaker 5: These men detained in Camp Jay are bravely and with
great thought in intention, putting their lives on the line
to advocate for the rights, the group said in a statement,
using the former name of the prison wing being used
to house ice detainees. So Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia
McLaughlin also denied the advocacy group's allegations. In a statement
that she released, she said, here are the facts. There
is no hunger strike at Louisiana Lockup. Unfortunately, this isn't
the first time, nor will it be the last, that
the media repeats unsubstantiated false allegations peddled by a criminal
illegal alias millions about detention facilities. By the way, this
facility is housing d and it's all in caps worst
of the worst, including murderers, pedophiles, and rapists. Last week,
before news and the hunger strike e merged, the Department
of Public Public Safety referred inquiries about Camp fifty seven
to ICE. Though Camp fifty seven is located in Gola,
which is operated by the state, officials have said it
is being run by ICE contractors, though they have not
publicly identified what company is doing so. Lesile Corrections, a
company that runs multiple ICE facilities in Louisiana, recently published
job postings in Saint Francisville, nearing Gola. An executive for
that firm did not return requests for comments. Officials, including
Jeff Landry, have promised the facility is only for the
worst of the worst. Fifty one detainees were moved at
the facility upon its opening. That according to the Department
of Homeland Security, which over sea ICE, and the agency
said the detainees have been convicted of serious crimes such
as homicide, rape, and sexual abuse of children. Federal and
state officials have not answered recent questions about who else
have been moved to the facility over the past several weeks.
So there you have that, and to that person that
reached out to me, now you have your update on
the Ice situation as it relates to Bloody and Gola. Quickly,
big time shit coming up on a podcast. I know
a lot of you out there also listen to Unspeakable,
a true crime podcast by Kelly Jennings. We got something
big dropping the first week in November, and that is
a multiple part series. I believe it's twenty episodes.
Speaker 6: It is already done.
Speaker 5: All we're doing is the back end stuff on that
right now.
Speaker 6: It is called d TL.
Speaker 5: Of course, it covers the life and crimes of maybe
Louisiana State Penitentiary in Gola's most infamous inmate, or definitely
one of the most and that is Derek Todd Lee,
also known as the Louisiana serial Killer, the Batinary serial Killer.
Speaker 6: He's about as.
Speaker 5: Evil a human being as you would ever come across.
His crimes absolutely horrific, and no one can tell that
story better than Kelly Jennings. So I'm going to play
you quickly. The trailer for this This series drops every
Monday on Unspeakable, a true crime podcasts by Kelly Jennings,
and it starts November three.
Speaker 6: And here's that trailer.
Speaker 3: In the sultry heat of Louisiana, where the Bayous whisper
secrets and the air hangs heavy with the scent of magnolias,
a darkness lurked beneath the surface. Dereck Todd Lee was
a man whose charm masked a sinister reality. He was
a monster. Lee, a seemingly ordinary man with a disarming smile,
led a double life that would unravel in a series
of murders in the capital city of Baton Rouge and
the surrounding areas. As the first reports of disappearances and
murders began to surface, South Louisiana was thrust into a nightmare,
igniting a frantic search for answers. The true horror was
just beginning, and the hunt for a serial killer eventually
known by just three letters, would reveal not only the
depths of Derreck Todd Lee's depravity, but also the resilience
of those most affected by his evil acts, the families
and the survivors. This is DTL.
Speaker 5: Now, as you noticed, you heard that music behind it.
The way I describe this is like listening to a
Netflix documentary. It's very highly produced. We spared no expense
on this one. Some of these things do to my
time constraints. I actually hired out some of the production
of these episodes. They're very highly produced, professionally produced, and
they're coming your way. First time we've ever done this
with this large of a series, and I'm telling you
it is absolute fire. You're gonna want to hear it.
Unspeakable of True Crime podcast by Kelly Jennings brings you
DTL November third, and that's all I got for you today.
Thank you so much for listening to Bloody and Gola.
If you are a Patreon supporter, I can't tell you
how much I love and appreciate you. Show would not exist,
would not without your continued support. Thank you so much
for allowing me to do what I do with Bloody
in Goa. And until next time for Bloody and Gola,
a podcast one forty two years in the making, the
complete story of America's bloodiest prison. I'm Jim Chapman, Peace.
Speaker 2: A Wall Street line, shackle chain. Who's some gurdy it's
calling my name?
Speaker 1: There is no.
Speaker 2: Mercy and this been a tentery juice sastly hugestream game
Rango three.
Speaker 4: I'm here, Bef.
Speaker 3: I'm me to die.
Speaker 4: Inside these walls, inside the wild. And when the walks
as I know, it's olbody angle, ohbody angle,