
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990                   TAG: 9003222670
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

GANG LEADER SENTENCED TO 403 YEARS

The reputed leader of the Pepsi Boys gang has been sentenced to 403 years in prison for the 1988 slayings of a man and his wife and for dozens of other felonies.

Joseph Johnson, 19, probably will spend the rest of his life in prison.

With other gang members, Johnson attacked at least 17 people in November 1988.

Charles and Elizabeth Southerly, parents of a 26-year-old retarded daughter, were killed on Nov.20, 1988, during a robbery attempt at their home.

Southerly, 57, and his 54-year-old wife were shot in the head while their daughter slept upstairs.

The Pepsi Boys, a loosely knit gang of six young adults and seven juveniles, are accused of 11 robberies in a three-week span in November 1988. Johnson's charges stem from all of the incidents.

Johnson is ineligible for parole. Under the state's three-time offender law, a felon cannot be paroled if he has been convicted of three or more crimes related to armed robbery, rape or murder.

Gang members would stake out a house to make sure it was occupied, knock on the front door, force their way in, then order their victims to lie on the floor as they ransacked the house, authorities said.

- Associated Press

by CNB