The Berkeley gangster turned informant receives his reward for his testimony: no more murder charges

OAKLAND – Authorities have made a deal with a former local mobster who became a key witness in a triple murder case earlier this year.

Thanks to the testimony of Gregg Fite Jr., 38-year-old Joseph Carroll was sentenced to multiple life sentences for killing three people and wounding several others in a series of gang shootings. Now Fite is allowed to run, according to court documents.

Fite was charged in 2018 with ordering the 2009 murder of Ngo Nguyen, which prosecutors say Carroll carried out. Fite eventually made a deal with prosecutors to testify against Carroll in exchange for a lesser conviction and ultimately a dismissal if he testified truthfully.

According to court records, the murder case against Fite was officially dismissed in late October. A month later, on November 21, his former friend and protégé Carroll was transferred to the state prison system, where, barring an appeal, he will spend the rest of his life.

During a lengthy trial over the summer, a jury convicted Carroll of killing Ngo, 18, Nehemiah Lewis, 24, and Andrew Henderson Jr., 23, and wounding several others in a series of gang-related shootings between 2009 and 2010 have. Security was tight at the trial, with officials sending up a secondary metal detector to check spectators.

Police have intercepted attempts to film or record witnesses, who are still under investigation for possible allegations of witness tampering, according to court records.

When it was his turn to take the stand, Fite testified that Carroll was a younger child who he had brought to “the corner” of an East Bay neighborhood, the Berkeley Scanner reported. According to police, Fite belonged to a so-called Waterfront gang, but Carroll soon formed his own squad, which allied itself with Fite’s gang.

Before he left, Fite was asked why he decided to testify against his former friend after walking the streets as a youth as a gang member and adhering to a code of silence. He said when police caught him for Nguyen’s murder, he had even more to lose from prison.

“Honestly, I just got put under enough pressure and collapsed,” Fite said, the Scanner reported.