With murder charge, authorities wind back clock on reputed gang leader's prison stay
For years, as the Maryland prison gang Dead Man Inc. grew in numbers and influence, law enforcement authorities watched anxiously as the scheduled release of the gang's reputed leader drew closer, wondering what his return would mean for the violent group's burgeoning street presence.
The climax was expected to come Tuesday — the day Perry Roark [seen at right] was scheduled to complete his 25-year term and exit a free man.
But before his scheduled release, state police and Anne Arundel County prosecutors effectively turned back the clock by resurrecting a 17-year-old murder charge, ensuring that Roark, who is believed to have founded the gang in a Maryland prison, will remain locked away for now.
Roark, a muscle-bound power lifter who turned 42 this month, has achieved godlike status among his followers, said Ryan Shifflet, Western Region director for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Gang Investigation Network. Shifflet, who met with Roark six months ago, describes him as influential, though somewhat reluctantly so at this point.
"Whether he likes it or not, it's the house he built," Shifflet said. "It's his baby, and he's going to hold that role to guys that have never even met him before. You've got tons of inmates who've never laid eyes on the man, but they know who he is and have heard he's 10 feet tall and bulletproof."
Three law enforcement sources with knowledge of the situation, who were not allowed to discuss the charges because they remain sealed, say Roark has been served with a warrant charging him in the killing of inmate George Hartman, who was beaten to death in a dormitory of the now-closed Maryland House of Correction in February 1994.
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Click here to read a copy of a gang application seized by Roanoke, Va. police in '06.
