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Kingsmen hitman’s sentence of life without parole upheld on appeal

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Andre L. Jenkins, at his Nov. 25, 2014, arraignment in Niagara County Court, Lockport, for the murders of two Kingsmen in North Tonawanda. 

Andre L. Jenkins, the hitman for the Kingsmen motorcycle club who killed two men execution-style in North Tonawanda seven years ago, will stay in prison for the rest of his life.

A five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Rochester ruled unanimously Thursday that the sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole was “not unduly harsh or severe.”

Andre L. Jenkins, the hitman for the Kingsmen motorcycle club who killed two men execution-style in North Tonawanda seven years ago, will stay in prison for the rest of his life.

A five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Rochester ruled unanimously Thursday that the sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole was “not unduly harsh or severe.”

The court rejected claims of prosecutorial misconduct during jury selection, ineffective defense representation at the trial, withholding of evidence and failure to make a record of attorneys’ conferences with the judge at the bench during the trial.

The murders led to a full-dress federal investigation of the Kingsmen as an organized crime enterprise.

In a three-month trial in U.S. District Court in 2018, David Pirk, now 70, the national president of the Kingsmen, was convicted of ordering the killings.

Pirk and Jenkins, who was convicted again in the federal trial, received three consecutive life sentences in federal court.

Timothy Enix, now 62, the club’s number-two man, was sentenced to 20 years for his role in the conspiracy.

Prosecutors said the murders were part of a violent rivalry among the Kingsmen over the efforts of Pirk, a Lockport native, to turn the club into a racketeering ring.

Evidence in the Niagara County trial showed that Jenkins, now 42, traveled from Florida to Western New York to commit the murders.

After Maue and Szymanski were killed, a Kingsmen member testified that a man sped past him on a motorcycle shouting “L.K.D.K.!” That’s short for a club slogan: “Live Kingsman, die Kingsman.”

The court rejected claims of prosecutorial misconduct during jury selection, ineffective defense representation at the trial, withholding of evidence and failure to make a record of attorneys’ conferences with the judge at the bench during the trial.

The murders led to a full-dress federal investigation of the Kingsmen as an organized crime enterprise.

In a three-month trial in U.S. District Court in 2018, David Pirk, now 70, the national president of the Kingsmen, was convicted of ordering the killings.

Pirk and Jenkins, who was convicted again in the federal trial, received three consecutive life sentences in federal court.

Timothy Enix, now 62, the club’s number-two man, was sentenced to 20 years for his role in the conspiracy.

Prosecutors said the murders were part of a violent rivalry among the Kingsmen over the efforts of Pirk, a Lockport native, to turn the club into a racketeering ring.

Evidence in the Niagara County trial showed that Jenkins, now 42, traveled from Florida to Western New York to commit the murders.

After Maue and Szymanski were killed, a Kingsmen member testified that a man sped past him on a motorcycle shouting “L.K.D.K.!” That’s short for a club slogan: “Live Kingsman, die Kingsman.”