DETROIT — Three leaders of a local gang chapter that's part of a larger underworld network, who held the ranks of "Chief," "Universal Elite" and "Chief Enforcer," were sentenced to 60 and 70 years in federal prison this week following their convictions for racketeering and their involvement in "a vast criminal enterprise" that included a revenge killing in a Detroit park, federal officials announced Thursday.

The three defendants — Terry Douglas, 44, Schuyler Belew, 31 and Devun Baskerville, 34, all of Detroit — were members of the Traveling Vice Lords in Detroit, a subsidiary of the Chicago-based Almighty Vice Lord Nation, U.S. District Attorney Dawn Ison's office said in a press release.

U.S. District Judge Jonathan J.C. Grey sentenced Douglas to 60 years in prison. Douglas, according to federal officials, "held the title of 'Chief' and was the Michigan leader of the Traveling Vice Lords."

"Belew ... held the title of 'Universal Elite' and was the Detroit leader of the Traveling Vice Lords.," the press release said. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Baskerville, who held the title of "Chief Enforcer" for the Traveling Vice Lords, was sentenced to 70 years in prison, officials said.

"The evidence at trial showed that these members of the AVLN worked together to further the AVLN, which involved AVLN members committing racketeering acts such as murder, narcotics trafficking, and witness intimidation," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. "The jury heard testimony concerning a brazen shooting that took place in broad daylight at a Detroit park.

"In that shooting, Baskerville, acting upon orders from Douglas and Belew, murdered an individual suspected of cooperating with law enforcement and attempted to murder his girlfriend when he shot several times into her vehicle as she tried to flee. Also in the vehicle were her two young children, who miraculously, were not harmed. The girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, suffered gunshot wounds but survived."

The jury also convicted Lawon Carter of drug trafficking and weapons offenses. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 28.

“The sentences handed down in this case should send a clear message to violent offenders who terrorize our neighborhoods: we won’t stop until you are brought to justice,” Ison said in a statement. “It is my sincere hope that these sentences bring some closure to the victim’s family.”

The release said the trial proved the Almighty Vice Lord Nation was "a vast criminal enterprise which committed acts of violence, drug trafficking, weapons offenses, and other crimes across the country. The AVLN are divided into different branches, each with their own leadership that answers to a 'board' in Chicago."

According to federal officials, the prosecution was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation.

"OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks," the release said. "Also instrumental in the investigation and prosecution of this case was the Detroit Police Department, and the Michigan Department of Corrections investigation staff."

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