Latin Counts Gang Leader Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Orchestrating Drive-By Shooting in Southwest Detroit

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan
4 December 2019

A leader of the Latin Counts gang was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in federal prison for assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, announced United States Attorney Matthew Schneider.

Schneider was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge James Deir of the ATF’s Detroit Division, and Chief James Craig of the Detroit Police Department.

Christopher Nicholas Rishell, a/k/a “C-5,” 30, of Lincoln Park, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland.

According to court records, Rishell orchestrated and helped carry out with fellow Latin Counts gang members a drive-by shooting in a residential neighborhood of southwest Detroit that occurred on October 7, 2017, killing one victim and injuring two others. Rishell was the “president” of the Toledo Mafia Counts set of the Latin Counts at the time of the shooting.

Also according to court records, the Latin Counts gang operates primarily in southwest Detroit and the downriver communities of Lincoln Park and Ecorse. The Latin Counts are a criminal enterprise responsible for murders, robberies, and the distribution of illegal drugs. The Latin Counts use violence to retaliate against rivals, intimidate citizens in the community, and advance members’ positions within the gang.

Through the lead efforts of the ATF, FBI, and the Detroit Homicide Task Force, law enforcement identified and charged a total of seven violent members of the Latin Counts gang responsible for the drive-by shooting, all of whom have since pleaded guilty.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Louis Crisostomo, Robert VanWert, and Eric Straus.