Alleged ‘founding father’ of gang back in court after refusing to testify in murder trial

A week after he refused to testify in another suspect’s murder trial, alleged gangster and killer Robert Furr was back in court Wednesday facing new charges.

Furr, 20, has been jailed since his arrest Sept. 15, 2017, in the fatal shooting of 35-year-old Travis Porter, at Hannah Heights Apartments, 909 Farr Road. On Dec. 11 he was summoned to Muscogee Superior Court to testify in the murder case against Clayton Perry, who was on trial in the Aug. 15, 2017, fatal shooting of James Francesconi.

Furr, who during an interview with Columbus police had implicated Perry in Francesconi’s homicide, refused to testify, so prosecutors instead showed jurors video of his Oct. 11, 2017, interview. The jury acquitted Perry, 18, of all charges in Francesconi’s death, but he remains a suspect in other offenses.

Furr was in Columbus Recorder’s Court on Wednesday to face four counts of violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

Detective Michael O’Keefe testified Furr told investigators he is among four “founding fathers” of the local Zohannon Gang, a subset of the Gangster Disciples. Police have alleged Perry, arrested Aug. 31, 2017, also is in the gang.

Founded in 2014, the gang now has about 200 members, one as young as age 10, O’Keefe said. It has been implicated in several murders, including the Sept. 3, 2017, death of 19-year-old Takelia Johnson, killed in a drive-by shooting in the 900 block of Ewart Avenue, the detective said, adding the gang also is involved in drug sales and break-ins.

Asked if he had any evidence of Furr’s gang involvement from social media posts, O’Keefe said police did an Internet search in the spring of 2017, and found plenty. “The evidence is astounding,” he said.

Hunter found probable cause to send the gang charges on to Muscogee Superior Court, where Furr has yet to be tried in Porter’s homicide.

Porter’s death was related to yet another slaying, the 2013 shooting of 23-year-old Dior Cheney, gunned down in his car at Benning Drive and Head Street. Porter told police Cheney was killed by Reginald Jackson, but when called to testify at Jackson’s 2016 trial, Porter said he couldn’t identify the gunman.

Jackson was acquitted, but police charged Porter with perjury for lying on the witness stand. Porter was due in court the day after he died.

During his October 2017 interview with police investigating Francesconi’s death, Furr told officers that Perry admitted robbing and shooting the marijuana dealer and implicated his friend Tremaine Taylor in the crime.

Taylor, 18, also has been killed, fatally shot Aug. 31, 2017, at 458 Henson Avenue. Furr told police he’d heard someone offered $15,000 for Taylor’s death because of Taylor’s role in Francesconi’s slaying.

Francesconi, 26, who police and witnesses said dealt in small amounts of marijuana, was shot in the stomach during a robbery at 228 Wickham Drive, where he was living with his friend D’Angelo Singleton. Testifying at Perry’s trial, Singleton said he did not witness the shooting, but noticed Francesconi’s marijuana was missing afterward.

This story was originally published December 19, 2018 at 3:32 PM.