Creston Street gang associate gets 21 months in federal prison for helping to bring guns up to Boston; still faces separate state gun charges

A federal judge yesterday sentenced Kobe Smith, 25, to 21 months in federal prison for his role in a gun-running gang that bought guns at an Alabama gun shop, then brought them up to Boston for sale on the street.

Smith, a one-time Creston Street gang member, was sentenced after US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor rejected his argument that their alleged gun running was a protected self-defense activity under recent Supreme Court rulings on the Second Amendment

With credit for the 17 months he has already spent locked up, Smith could be released from prison in five months.

Smith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to illegally transport firearms in March, two months after Saylor rejected his Second Amendment argument.

The other three men in the ring - Jahquel Pringle and Jamori Brown of Boston - have all also pleaded guilty to the scheme, in which Moore would buy guns at gun shops in the Montgomery area that Pringle and Brown would then pack in some luggage and take with them on buses to Boston.

Prosecutors say Smith, Pringle, and Brown all knew each other from living on the same street in Dorchester where Moore had also once lived. They began bringing guns up from Alabama in 2020. Pringle and Smith fled and moved to Washington state; they were not arrested until 2023

Prosecutors laid out the charges Smith still faces in a Boston court:

Smith was previously charged in Dorchester District Court after having been arrested on May 29, 2020 by Boston Police along with six individuals on outstanding warrants after police went to Rooms 205 and 206 of a Comfort Inn at 900 Morrissey Boulevard in Boston. Smith was inside one of the rooms with an individual who was placed under arrest. With the consent of the individual who had rented both of the rooms, Boston Police officers searched the rooms. Inside a black and white Nike backpack, officers located a black firearm with a Glock 22 slide with serial number ADM328US on it; the frame/grip appeared to be an aftermarket addition. The firearm was loaded with twelve rounds of ammunition inside a magazine capable of holding 15 rounds. Inside the backpack, officers located a blue folder containing personal papers and an identification card in Smith's name. Smith was then arrested and charged and the case is currently pending. The firearm recovered from Smith's backpack was later test-fired by the Boston Police Department Ballistics units, and the results were submitted to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). The NIBIN results indicated the firearm was inked to seven Boston shooting incidents, which had taken placed between July 17, 2019 and May 3, 2020. In at least three of those incidents, a person had been non-fatally shot.

Prosecutors had urged Saylor to sentence Smith to 24 months in prison.

Smith's attorney in turn recommended just 17 months - the time he had already spent in prison. He argued that unlike the others, Smith never actually transported the weapons up from Alabama and that the government produced "NO true persuasive value to conclude that Smith was an architect or even a henchman in the context within the entire scope of the conspiracy."