Murder of Edward Byrne
From behind bars on gun charges, Mason ordered the murder of police officer Eddie Byrne which led to increased law enforcement attention and his eventual arrest and conviction on various charges. A month after the killing of officer Byrne, Mason was sentenced to seven years in prison on gun charges. The federal government continued to investigate Mason for the Byrne killing. On December 11, 1989 Mason was convicted on federal charges including the murder of Officer Byrne . After four years of legal wrangling, including questions of Mason's mental competency he was given a life sentence in 1994. With his absence the drug crew was taken over by Eric "Bebo" Lucas who was a violent kid from the Brooklyn streets where Mason grew up, yet Lucas was years younger than Mason. In 1990 Mason's mother was given a ten year prison term for drug trafficking. She was released in 1998. Mason is serving his life sentence at the ADX Florence supermax prison
Read more about this topic: Howard Mason
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