Federal prosecutors say a Young Mob member from Memphis is headed to federal prison after a 2024 tattoo-parlor stickup tied him to a wider meth operation and a sprawling gang probe. On June 25, 2026, Larry Wilson was sentenced to more than seven years behind bars after investigators used intercepted messages and location data to track the crew, tip off Memphis police about two earlier attempts, and then watch as the group finally robbed three customers at gunpoint.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Wilson, 36, pleaded guilty to a racketeering (RICO) conspiracy and received an 87-month federal sentence. Prosecutors say investigators monitored wire and electronic communications between March 14 and June 13, 2024, and those intercepted messages showed plans to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, along with evidence of violent acts connected to Young Mob.
Wiretap Memo Spells Out How The Plot Unfolded
A June memorandum filed in federal court as Judge Sheryl H. Lipman prepared to sentence Wilson lays out how Young Mob allegedly used location data, group texts and FaceTime to scout and coordinate the attack, according to The Daily Memphian. The outlet reports that the memo is the clearest public account so far of how those digital tools were used in real time to track a rival customer.
Two Foiled Tries, Then A Gunpoint Robbery
Federal prosecutors say investigators watched two planned robberies fall apart after marked Memphis Police Department units were dispatched to the scene. On June 12, however, Wilson and co-defendant Braxton “B Mack” Beck returned to Therapeutic Ink and robbed three customers at gunpoint. WMC Action News 5 summarized the Justice Department’s account and noted that Beck had already pleaded guilty and received a 10-year sentence in May.
RICO Stakes And A Federal Crime Crackdown
The case was prosecuted as a RICO conspiracy and announced as part of the Justice Department’s Violent Crime Initiative in Memphis. The U.S. Department of Justice said prosecutors from the Criminal Division and the Western District of Tennessee handled the case alongside the ATF and the Memphis Multiagency Gang Unit. Prosecutors argue that the intercepted communications and coordinated surveillance show a pattern of drug distribution and violent conduct that funded and sustained the gang’s operations.
The Young Mob organization has been in the crosshairs of multiagency investigations for years, and federal indictments filed in 2025 charged multiple members with murder, robbery and drug offenses. Young Mob gang members indicted in Memphis and other coverage have documented the group’s alleged role in violent crime across Memphis neighborhoods, a backdrop prosecutors pointed to at Wilson’s sentencing.
Why this matters now: the June memorandum and Wilson’s June 25 sentence gave local reporters fresh material to show how federal and local teams used digital surveillance to intervene in violent plots, sometimes in time and sometimes not. According to The Daily Memphian, the memo offers a close look at the real-time tracking and communications that shaped investigators’ responses.
