San Leandro Man Among North Oakland Gang Members on Trial for Murder

Bay City News — A prosecutor said Monday that four reputed members of the North Side Oakland gang, one of which is from San Leandro, should be convicted of three counts of murder for a fatal shooting in Berkeley and a subsequent car chase that killed two innocent bystanders in Oakland four years ago.

Prosecutor Steve Dal Porto said the shooting occurred as a result of a feud the North Side Oakland gang has had with a rival Berkeley gang that started over a stolen car tire rim in 2002 and continued with the murders of three North Side Oakland gang members.

On trial are Stephon Anthony of San Leandro, 26, 30-year-old Anthony Price of Oakland, Samuel Flowers, 25, and Rafael Campbell, 28, who was featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted."

Dal Porto told jurors in his closing argument that the four set out for revenge on May 16, 2009, and were looking for a member of the Berkeley gang but when they didn't find him they targeted they fired multiple shots at the member's brother, 25-year-old Charles Davis of Berkeley near Allston Way and 10th Street in West Berkeley. Davis was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dal Porto said he believes the specific incident that prompted the shooting was the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Nguyen Ngo of Pinole, a reputed North Side Oakland member, in the 800 block of 45th Street in Oakland three weeks earlier.

The prosecutor said that after Davis was shot, the suspects fled the scene in a speeding Cadillac, going through numerous stop signs as they took a circuitous route through Berkeley and Oakland. The Cadillac then crashed into a Mazda and a pedestrian at Aileen Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland, killing both the Mazda driver, 27-year-old Todd Perea of Brentwood, and the pedestrian, 41-year-old Floyd Ross of Berkeley.

After the crash, police arrested Anthony, who they believe was driving the Cadillac, and Price. Two rifles were found on the passenger side of the car, prosecutors said. However, Flowers and Campbell got away on foot. Flowers was arrested in Bal Harbour, Fla., on May 25, 2009. Prosecutors said witnesses have identified Flowers as the person who shot and killed Davis.

Campbell, who was profiled on "America's Most Wanted," was arrested in Sacramento on Nov. 17, 2009. Dal Porto alleged that Flowers is the person who shot Davis and argued that the other three men should also be convicted of murder for participating in the crimes.

He said the reputed gang members "embraced a mindset of how much fear and terror they can instill in people in the community" and didn't care if innocent bystanders were killed. Dal Porto said Davis "presented absolutely no threat to them" and described the shooting as "a savage, low-down and despicable as its gets." 

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