This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Salt Lake County man who detectives have identified as a member of the Iraqi Mafia street gang has pleaded guilty to weapons charges in federal court that may send him to prison for up to 10 years.
Ali Munder Al-Rekabi, 31, entered a guilty plea Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball to felony charges of being in the country illegally and being in possession of a firearm. In addition to 10 years in prison, Al-Rekabi could face a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release when he is sentenced on March 7. Al-Rekabi may also have his immigration status revoked.
In exchange for Al-Rekabi's guilty plea, the U.S. Attorney's Office agreed to drop another charge filed against Al-Rekabi for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Al-Rekabi's plea took place in Kimball's chambers after Al-Rekabi's court-appointed defense attorney, Julie George, requested the hearing take place in a less public venue because dozens of seventh-graders were in Kimball's courtroom as part of a class tour of the federal courthouse.
George said her client, who witnessed several family members being executed when he lived in Iraq, deals with severe mental health issues and that appearing before a courtroom full of children might possibly trigger emotions connected to his post traumatic stress disorder.
Kimball granted the request and moved the plea to his chambers.
Al-Rekabi's federal charges came after a police officer pulled him over on June 17 and a search of his vehicle revealed a Browning .45-caliber firearm, according to a statement filed in advance of Al-Rekabi's plea. Court documents indicate that Al-Rekabi initially planned to contest the weapons charges on the grounds that officers didn't have a sufficient reason to pull him over.
An officer alleged that he stopped Al-Rekabi's vehicle for either speeding or turning into a parking lot without signaling. During the stop, the officer claimed Al-Rekabi's tattoos indicated he is a member of a "middle-eastern mafia," court documents state. But Al-Rekabi planned to argue his tattoo wasn't gang-affiliated, but a tribute to the late West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur.
Al-Rekabi, however, decided to plead guilty to the weapons violations.
While Al-Rekabi's arrest was for weapons violations may appear mundane on the surface, the street gang he is connected to has been responsible for notable criminal behavior in recent years. Hearing that Al-Rekabi was heading to federal prison on weapons violations on Tuesday was welcome news to gang detectives familiar with the Iraqi Mafia's activities.
Facing up to 10 years in prison "sounds like the punishment matches the crime," said Lt. Marianne Suarez of the Salt Lake County Area Gang Project, which works on gang suppression.
Al-Rekabi's criminal history in state court includes 15 separate misdemeanor and felony cases dating back to 1998, involving assaults, burglaries and using dangerous weapons.
In October 2010, several of Al-Rekabi's relatives were accused in a search warrant of dealing drugs from auto dealerships, as well as plotting to kidnap and torture a police officer.
The search warrant stated that gang member Ahmed Al-Rekabi sought to kill an officer as retribution for a relative killed in January 2009 in an officer-involved shooting. Hussein Al-Rekabi, 19, opened fire into a crowd at a downtown nightclub in January and a mob of his angry relatives screamed death threats at officers who responded. A Salt Lake City police officer shot and killed Al-Rekabi, who had ignored a command to stop and injured two bystanders near Club Bliss at 404 S. West Temple around 1:15 a.m. on Jan. 24, 2009.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office determined the officer was justified in the shooting.
But the Iraqi Mafia has been out for blood since Hussein Al-Rebaki's death, according to the 2010 search warrant.
The document states Iraqi Mafia members have threatened Salt Lake City officers on several occasions. Gang detectives conducted surveillance last year on Alan Auto, an automotive repair business at 4340 S. State St., in Murray, and observed the gang dealing drugs, the search warrant states.
A detective investigating the gang, Michael Fullwood of the West Jordan Police Department, said at the time of the warrant that the "predominate" members of the Iraqi Mafia are refugees from Iraq who came to the United States after the first Gulf War.
The gang has also been discussed at the annual Utah Gang Conference as an example of gangs emerging from Utah's refugee communities.
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