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Two Men Get Life In Prison

Sentenced for 1990 Area Four Murders

By Michael K. Mayo, Crimson Staff Writer

Two Boston men yesterday were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1990 murders of Jesse McKie and Rigoberto Carrion, residents of Cambridge's Area Four.

The court ruled that Ventrey A. Gordon, 19, and Sean Lee, 29, murdered MicKie for his leather jacket and Carrion, an eyewitness, on January 25, 1990, in the neighborhood near Central Square.

The men were found minutes after the murder, their shirts bloodied, and with one of them wearing McKie's jacket, officials said.

Gordon and Lee were given the mandatory penalty for first-degree murder by Judge Wendy Gershengorn of the Middlesex Superior Court.

Prosecutor David Meier called Gordon the "primemover"--the one who actually stabbed McKie andCarrion in the heart, white the others looked on.

Two more men, Ricardo S. Park, 19, ofDorchester, and Lazell Cook, 20, of Brookline,were arrested when they went to the jail to bailout Gordon and Lee. They were also present duringthe crime, according to Assistant DistrictAttorney Kathy Keeley.

Cook will be tried separately on the two murdercounts. Park was cleared of all charges yesterday.

A fifth man, Ronald T. Settles, was alsoconvicted yesterday as an accessory after thefact, but was acquitted on the murder count.

The sentencing followed two years of outrage inArea Four, which faced an image problem after themurder, according to Jacqueline Clark,spokesperson for the neighborhood's Crime TaskForce.

Following the murder, more than 700neighborhood residents staged a march protestingthe increase in crime and the image of thecommunity as a haven for drug dealers.

"It's an area people say, 'I would never walkthrough there.' I live there and it's fine," Clarksaid.

After the murder, police stepped up action inthe area. The crime rate, according to Clark, hissince decreased

Prosecutor David Meier called Gordon the "primemover"--the one who actually stabbed McKie andCarrion in the heart, white the others looked on.

Two more men, Ricardo S. Park, 19, ofDorchester, and Lazell Cook, 20, of Brookline,were arrested when they went to the jail to bailout Gordon and Lee. They were also present duringthe crime, according to Assistant DistrictAttorney Kathy Keeley.

Cook will be tried separately on the two murdercounts. Park was cleared of all charges yesterday.

A fifth man, Ronald T. Settles, was alsoconvicted yesterday as an accessory after thefact, but was acquitted on the murder count.

The sentencing followed two years of outrage inArea Four, which faced an image problem after themurder, according to Jacqueline Clark,spokesperson for the neighborhood's Crime TaskForce.

Following the murder, more than 700neighborhood residents staged a march protestingthe increase in crime and the image of thecommunity as a haven for drug dealers.

"It's an area people say, 'I would never walkthrough there.' I live there and it's fine," Clarksaid.

After the murder, police stepped up action inthe area. The crime rate, according to Clark, hissince decreased

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