Convicted gang boss Labar Spann denies threatening witnesses in jail call posted to Instagram
Convicted Four Corner Hustlers boss Labar “Bro Man” Spann has penned a handwritten motion to a federal judge denying he threatened witnesses in a social media post from jail after his recent trial and demanding his phone calls and visitation rights be restored.
The six-page letter was dated Nov. 15, the same day the Tribune reported that federal authorities were investigating an Instagram video showing Spann threatening the “snitches” who testified against him.
“One thing about y’all, man, you can’t hide,” Spann says on the video that went live the day after his conviction on racketeering charges that included four murders. “One thing about these jails, you gonna get bumped into.”
The video was apparently made during a Skype phone call from the Livingston County Jail, where Spann has been held for years while his case has been pending.
In his letter, which was posted to the court docket on Wednesday, Spann wrote that he was under the impression his that his case was over and that no one had warned him he “couldn’t open up about my case via video visitation and family on social media.”
“So, when I went to social media live on my visit, I stated non-threatening, non-violent things/comments about and regarding my case,” Spann wrote. “I’m asking you to restore my phone calls and visitation due to me not putting any of my witnesses safety in jeopardy in no way, shape, or form.”
Spann also called the revocation of his jail privileges “completely out of sync” since witnesses’ names and information was already made public in court.
Spann, 43, is facing mandatory life in prison after a jury convicted him Nov. 8 of racketeering conspiracy alleging he directed or participated in four murders as well as a number of robberies and extortions over the course of two decades.
Prosecutors alleged Spann took over the reins of the gang after he was shot and paralyzed in 1999, using murder to elevate the gang’s reputation for ruthlessness as well as his own street cred.
Among the murders the jury found Spann participated in was the infamous contract killing of Latin Kings boss Rudy “Kato” Rangel.
A total of 18 witnesses identified Spann as the leader of the Four Corner Hustlers, including some of Spann’s top henchmen who cooperated with prosecutors in hopes for leniency.
In his closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Storino reminded jurors of the reluctant testimony of some of the cooperators, noting how you could see the fear “in the faces of the witnesses.”
“The point was to keep people in fear,” Storino said.
The grainy video posted to Instagram on Nov. 9 showed Spann leaning forward at a table in what appears to be a day room at the jail. Before launching into his monologue, Spann asks the person he’s talking to on the video phone link, “It ain’t live, though, right?”
As others mill about in the background, Spann then spends several minutes thanking supporters and praising himself for “standing up tall.”
“One thing about me, in that federal courtroom, I went all the way,” Spann said during the 4½-minute clip obtained by the Tribune. “I got on the stand defending myself. I didn’t get on the stand lying on no (expletive).”
Spann also appeared to contradict his own testimony in which he claimed he was a renegade “gangster” who did his own thing, not the leader of any criminal enterprise.
“I’ma always be me,” Spann said. “In this jail, or on the street, I’m me. I’m a boss.”
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Lausch confirmed that federal authorities were looking into the contents of the video but declined to provide specifics.
“We are aware of the video and are taking appropriate actions to address these serious threats,” said spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick. “Protecting the safety of government witnesses is of utmost importance to our office.”
A deputy chief with the Livingston County sheriff’s office, which runs the jail where Spann is being held, declined to comment.
Spann’s attorneys have also declined to comment.
The video was hardly the first time Spann has been accused of making threats or trying to keep control of the Four Corner Hustlers from behind bars.
Over the summer, as his trial was nearing, Spann had his visitation and communications suspended by jail officials after prosecutors said he’d been recorded trying to intervene with co-defendants’ pending cases and disrupt witnesses who were being subpoenaed to testify against him.
In 2015, while under investigation for federal gun charges, Spann was caught chatting on social media with an acquaintance who followed a witnesses’ movements in and around the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where she was scheduled to testify against him before a grand jury, court records show.
“Whatever she do, just say I don’t touch (expletive),” Spann said in one message.
