MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - If you cross a drug lord, you're going to get killed. That's the message from one of Craig Petties' drug dealers as he took the stand in the seventh day of testimony in the massive murder for hire trial.
Clinton and Martin Lewis are accused hit men for the Petties enterprise, and were tied to two murders in court testimony.
Demetrius Fields was one of Petties's top men; he ordered and organized several kills for the enterprise and gave details of the Lewises involvement.
Latrell Small, Kilonji Griffin, Mario Stewart, Marcus Turner and Mario McNeal are just a few of the men Fields told the jury were murdered by Petties' violent, cross-country drug ring.
According to Fields, as a drug dealer for Petties he got a new cell phone with a new number with each large shipment of cocaine. He had one home to stash drugs in and another which was his base of sales.
He did anything Petties asked.
Fields says Petties ordered the hit on Turner and Clinton Lewis carried it out.
200 kilos of cocaine were stolen from the organization and Petties thought Turner knew who did it.
They kidnapped him, tied him up, blindfolded him and left him in a white van for more than two days. Then Fields says Petties had one of the kidnappers, Clinton Lewis, murder Turner.
For the first time in this trial we heard about the dangerous role Martin Lewis played. Fields told jurors Mario McNeal was murdered by Martin Lewis.
According to testimony, after Latrell Small was killed, McNeal threatened to kill Petties' mother; Petties ordered Martin Lewis to kill him first.
Fields says Martin Lewis ran into a hot wings restaurant, murdered McNeal, and then drove away.
The problem is when you have this many people involved, and this many murders, it's difficult to determine who was actually responsible for which murder and who is telling the truth.
That will be left for a jury to decide.
