United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Greenbelt, Md., – Bobby Cannon, a/k/a Freaky, age 24 of Baltimore, pleaded guilty today to participating in a violent racketeering conspiracy, specifically, the NFL Criminal Enterprise, including committing two murders.  The term "NFL" stands for Normandy, Franklin, and Loudon, which are three adjacent streets that run through the Edmondson Village.  Members of NFL have social and familial ties to the Edmondson Village neighborhood in southwest Baltimore. 

The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division; United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, from at least 2016 through March 26, 2020, Bobby Cannon was a member of the NFL Criminal Enterprise, which engaged in a pattern of criminal racketeering activity including acts involving murder, narcotics trafficking and smuggling, illegal firearms possession, bribery, witness intimidation, and witness retaliation.  Cannon admitted that he participated in illegal activities with other NFL Enterprise members, including committing two murders and an attempted murder, and distributing large quantities of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine. 

As detailed in Cannon’s plea agreement, in 2018, the NFL Criminal Enterprise offered money for the murder of an individual who was believed to be a federal witness cooperating with law enforcement regarding NFL.  On June 16, 2018, Cannon walked up to the porch of a house in Edmondson Village, where the individual and his girlfriend were sitting.  Cannon shot them both multiple times, killing them.  Cannon was subsequently paid by the NFL for committing the murders, which Cannon agrees was in furtherance of the NFL Criminal Enterprise.

In late 2018, Cannon was recruited by NFL to murder another individual in exchange for money and in furtherance of the NFL Criminal Enterprise.  Cannon planned the murder for several weeks and learned that the individual resided in a halfway house in East Baltimore.  On January 4, 2019, Cannon borrowed a car from a female associate in southwest Baltimore and later drove the car to the vicinity of the halfway house, where Cannon waited for the individual.  After several hours, Cannon saw the individual on the street and shot the individual multiple times in the arm, back, neck, and buttocks.  The individual sustained life-threatening injuries but survived the shooting.

Following the shooting, Cannon abandoned the car and notified the female associate, who then falsely reported to the Baltimore Police that her car was stolen.  Cannon then notified the NFL Criminal Enterprise that he attempted to murder the individual but failed to kill him.

In April 2019, the FBI arrested members of the NFL Criminal Enterprise, but not Cannon.  On a recorded jail call following the arrests, Cannon was instructed to continue distributing narcotics for the NFL.  Cannon took over a drug phone used by the NFL Criminal Enterprise so that he could continue to sell narcotics to drug customers of the organization.

On December 28, 2019, Baltimore Police officers found Cannon unconscious in a parked van. During their interaction, officers saw that Cannon had a gun, which they recovered from his jacket pocket.  Officers then searched Cannon’s van and recovered over 98 grams of fentanyl, which Cannon agrees he possessed with the intent to distribute.

Cannon admitted in his plea agreement that over the course of the racketeering conspiracy, Cannon and his co-conspirators distributed over one kilogram of heroin, more than 400 grams of fentanyl, and more than 280 grams of crack cocaine.

Cannon and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Cannon will be sentenced to at least 29 years and up to 36 years in federal prison.  

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. This case is also part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  

SAC Forget commended the FBI, the Montgomery County Department of Police, the Baltimore Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office of Maryland for their work in the investigation. SAC Forget also thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the City of Rockville Police Department; the Baltimore County, Howard County, and Montgomery County Police Departments; the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office; the Maryland State Police; the West Virginia State Police; the Virginia State Police; the Warren County (VA) Sheriff’s Department; the Winchester (VA) and Front Royal (VA) Police Departments; and the Frederick County and Howard County State’s Attorney’s Offices.  

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