Paul Hammel
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — A federal judge has sentenced a gang “shot caller,” or leader, to more than 12 years in prison for a multitude of felony offenses, including trying to intimidate and assault potential witnesses against him.
Johnny Dolph, 50, originally of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was a leader of the Irish Mob Gang, which originated in the Oklahoma prison system, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Nebraska.
He came to Omaha in 2021 under a federal parole compact after serving time in a Kansas prison.
Dolph, according to authorities, lied that he would be living with his brother, and began setting up a counterfeiting operation with other gang members.
‘Threats won’t be tolerated’
After one associate was arrested in Richardson County, Dolph began contacting that person’s wife, to prevent her from going to authorities. She was threatened over the phone, officials said, as Dolph and another gang member attempted to locate where she was living in Omaha.
The case, according to authorities, involved a “straw purchase” of a gun for Dolph (a multiple-convicted felon is prohibited from possessing firearms), a gang “green light” to assault the wife, and additional threats aimed at a person whose information led to a search of an apartment where Dolph and another gang member lived.
After his arrest, Dolph also asked an associate over the phone to destroy evidence in the case.
He was sentenced Thursday for 10 felony convictions by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert Rossiter to an overall sentence of 150 months in prison.
FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel said the sentencing of the gang leader “is a message to criminals who think threatening a witness and destroying evidence will keep them out of prison.”
“The FBI will find you. Intimidation and threats of violence will never be tolerated,” Kowel said in a media release.
