JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Three men pleaded guilty to federal racketeering conspiracy charges in July, weeks before prosecutors publicly announced a sweeping case against 13 other alleged members of Jacksonville's 'Slime' organization, according to federal court records that were unsealed this week and reported by News4JAX (WJXT) in Jacksonville.
Source: News4JAX (WJXT) reporting, via Focal News
Jermaine James, Marquise Felton and Derrick Jerome Brown were not named among the 13 defendants when the U.S. Attorney's Office announced the 16-count indictment in August. The newly public records show why: charging documents against the three had been filed in the U.S. District Court in Jacksonville on July 21 and July 22, their guilty pleas were entered on July 28, 29 and 30, and hearings in their cases were sealed after defence lawyers raised concerns about their clients' safety.
Source: News4JAX (WJXT) video report
What each man pleaded guilty to, and what prosecutors allege he did
All three men waived indictment — they agreed to be charged by a prosecutor's filing rather than by a grand jury — and pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy. James also pleaded guilty to a drug charge. According to the court documents, James had first been indicted in April 2025 on three federal drug charges that did not mention Slime; a July filing dropped two of those charges and added the racketeering count, alleging he took part in the organization's affairs through criminal activity.
Prosecutors say James maintained a Jacksonville house used for drug distribution, supplied drugs to other members, ordered violence to collect a drug debt and bailed another alleged Slime member out of custody in another state. Felton's charging document alleges he maintained two drug houses and participated in attempts to kill two people as part of the conspiracy; he had previously been arrested alongside Terrance Williams and Devonne Rivers in connection with a 2024 shooting that left a man critically injured. Brown is accused of distributing drugs, maintaining a house used to store drugs and firearms, and helping assault a lower-level drug dealer over money owed to the organization.
The guilty pleas and the waivers of indictment are established by the unsealed court records. Former federal prosecutor Curtis Fallgatter told News4JAX the timing and the waivers suggest the government may have secured potential witnesses before announcing the larger case — 'You found the court documents, which show that they actually waived indictment, which means they're cooperating,' he said. That is Fallgatter's assessment, not a court finding: waiving indictment and pleading guilty do not by themselves prove that any of the three has a cooperation agreement, and the available records do not independently establish one.
The sealed hearings and the safety concern
Although the three pleaded guilty in July, their connection to the larger Slime case was not publicly known when prosecutors announced the August indictment. Court records show attorneys for Brown and Felton raised concerns about their clients' safety and asked that their hearings be sealed, and a judge granted those requests. Fallgatter said secrecy in a case alleging organized violence can serve several purposes: stopping other suspects from fleeing if they learn members may be cooperating, and protecting defendants and their families from retaliation. The documented safety requests in this case came from the defence attorneys.
Background: the August case against 13 others
The indictment against the other 13 alleged members and associates was filed on August 5 and announced days later by United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida. It charges racketeering conspiracy, drug-trafficking conspiracy, murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and retaliating against a witness, according to the U.S. Attorney's announcement carried by the IRS Criminal Investigation division. Prosecutors allege the organization existed under several names over the years — Pearl World, BB4L (Block Burners for Life), K4T (Killers for Telly) and finally Slime World — was led by Brian Gregory Brightman, and operated primarily in Jacksonville's Northside and Oceanway neighbourhoods, generating income through drug trafficking. All three July charging documents likewise describe Slime as an organization based in Northside and Oceanway that made money through drug trafficking and robberies and used threats and violence to protect territory, intimidate rivals and enforce discipline.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida (via IRS-CI)
The August case is being investigated by a long list of agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation, as part of the Justice Department's Operation Take Back America initiative. An indictment is only a formal charge: the 13 defendants in the August case are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty, and their case remains ongoing.
What happens next
James, Felton and Brown are awaiting sentencing; no sentencing dates were given in the unsealed records reported this week. Fallgatter said one of the government's challenges in the main case will be showing how individual acts fit into the alleged criminal enterprise — 'Everyone's going to have different little parts in it, and the witnesses that they recruited will help explain how those pieces fall into place,' he said — and he expects more of the 13 defendants may reach plea agreements as the case progresses: 'It's fairly likely that some more of those 13 defendants will work their cases out with the government. The government will rack up additional witnesses to testify against those who decide to go to trial.' For residents of Northside and Oceanway, the neighbourhoods prosecutors name as the organization's base, the unsealing is the first public confirmation that part of the case was already resolved in secret months before the public arrests were announced.