“250 each”: Feds link Lexington gang to assassination of federal witness

LEXINGTON, Ky.–A recent federal detention order has revealed explosive new details in the unsolved 2023 murder of Kristopher Lewis, a Lexington man who was set to testify against a major drug trafficker. Prosecutors now say Lewis’s killing may have been a paid hit, allegedly orchestrated by members of the West End gang “Hot Boyz” at the direction of a federal defendant with both motive and money.

According to a June 4 memorandum opinion by U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Stinnett, federal investigators believe that Lewis, 28, was executed in broad daylight on Trade Street in September 2023 to prevent him from testifying in a federal trial. The man he was expected to testify against, Rollie Lamar, was later sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for marijuana trafficking, money laundering, and weapons charges. At the time of his arrest, Lamar had more than $2 million in assets seized by authorities, including stacks of cash, luxury vehicles, and firearms.

Now prosecutors suggest Lamar used some of that money to have Lewis killed.

The details came to light in the detention proceedings for Quincino Waide, Jr., a 24-year-old West End resident accused of illegal gun possession. Waide, however, is suspected of far more than a firearms charge. In the federal court opinion ordering him held without bond, the judge laid out a network of alleged gang violence tied to Waide and the Hot Boyz—a West Side crew suspected in multiple homicides.

Among them: the Sept. 29, 2023 shooting of Lewis.

On that morning, police found Lewis dead in his vehicle, riddled with bullets. Witnesses reported seeing three masked men flee the scene. Months later, prosecutors now say the killing was carried out by Hot Boyz members William Dixon, Daquis Sharp, and DeAngalo Boone—allegedly acting on behalf of Lamar, who believed Lewis’s cooperation with law enforcement had led to his arrest.

In reality, it hadn’t. “Although Lewis’s cooperation did not lead to the arrest of Lamar,” Stinnett wrote, “Lewis had, ultimately, decided to cooperate with law enforcement and was scheduled to testify at Lamar’s trial.” According to the feds, that made him a target.

Prosecutors presented text messages from Dixon’s phone sent around the time of Lewis’s murder. In them, Dixon and Sharp discuss four people—“4 of us”—splitting “a band” for “250 each.” Investigators appear to believe this may refer to a $1 million total payment, divided into $250,000 shares. Waide’s phone was located in the same area as the other men that day, and he was reportedly near the spot where the getaway vehicle was later abandoned.

While no one has yet been indicted for Lewis’s murder, federal prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing and further charges may be forthcoming. “The United States alleged it intends to charge Waide related to this murder in a future indictment, but the United States has not indicted any parties for Lewis’s murder at the writing of this opinion,” Stinnett noted in his opinion.

The federal judge stopped short of formally tying Waide to the murder, but noted his “uncomfortably close” proximity to the suspects, and ruled that Waide posed a danger to the community if released. “There is simply too much violence and chaos in Waide’s orbit,” Stinnett wrote.

Quincino Waide was arraigned on June 11 in U.S. District Court. His trial on federal firearms charges is set for August 12 in Frankfort before U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove.