. Ronald Herron, who calls himself "The Big Homie," dabbled as a self-styled rapper under the name "Ra Diggs" until he was busted in 2010

 

The leader of all Bloods street gangs in New York City was hit with a sweeping new indictment today charging him with murder and several murder conspiracy charges. Ronald Herron, who calls himself "The Big Homie," dabbled as a self-styled rapper under the name "Ra Diggs" until he was busted in 2010 after a four-year FBI-NYPD probe involving more than 65 undercover drug purchases. Brooklyn federal prosecutors say he unleashed a reign of terror over several city housing projects, threatened the police, vowed online to "turn the pigs kids into" orphans, and issued warnings against snitching. Today prosecutors hit him with an expanded indictment that includes several murder, murder conspiracy, and attempted murder charges related to his alleged drug business, and Herron possibly could face the death penalty, if convicted. He was already facing cocaine and heroin-trafficking charges - as well as weapons offenses - that stemmed from his 2010 arrest. The feds say he’s carried sub-machine guns, strapped on bulletproof vests, and authorities believe he's responsible for ordering murders and intimidating witnesses that doomed one homicide prosecution in New York state court. Last summer - while fighting the earlier federal drug charges - Herron claimed that he was not bound by American law. "I am not a party to ... the Constitution of the United States of America," Herron wrote Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis. Arguing that he was a “sovereign inhabitant” not subject to federal jurisdiction, he also made a contradictory argument that he’s governed only by the US Constitution and no other laws passed since the Founding Fathers penned that original document. Herron’s philosophy includes concepts espoused by certain grass-roots political movements in the western US, which Constitutional law experts say was a “fascinating” development. “Surprisingly, some of the things he says here are popular with white supremacist groups,” Larry Solum, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school, told The Post last summer. Herron’s challenge also uses “similar ideas to those associated with extremist and fringe movements,” such as the Patriot movement and militia groups," said Solum, a constitutional scholar. But the judge was not persuaded and rejected Herron's motion suggesting that his earlier drug trafficking indictment be dismissed.