United States v. Billy Darrell Arnold

── United States v. Billy Darrell Arnold ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: May 29, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0247n.06 No. 24-1316/1319 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED May 29, 2026 ) KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE ) v. UNITED STATES DISTRICT ) COURT FOR THE EASTERN ) BILLY DARRELL ARNOLD, DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN ) Defendant-Appellant. ) OPINION ) ) Before: BOGGS, BATCHELDER, and MOORE, Circuit Judges. ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. On September 26, 2015, law enforcement arrested Billy Arnold after he left a party hosted by the notorious Seven Mile Bloods (“SMB”) gang in Detroit, Michigan. This initial arrest set off years of superseding indictments and court proceedings, ultimately resulting in a jury’s finding Arnold guilty in 2023 of, among other things, participation in a RICO conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, and various firearm offenses. The district court sentenced Arnold to more than five life terms in prison for his crimes. Arnold appeals. Finding no error, we AFFIRM. I. Billy Arnold, also known as “Killa,” was a leading member of the SMBs—a gang that operated in an area of Detroit, Michigan, known as the “Red Zone.” The SMBs engaged in various criminal activities, but their primary source of income came from an ongoing and ever-increasing drug-dealing business. And the gang was not shy about its illicit undertakings. Members created Nos. 24-1316/1319, United States v. Arnold rap videos and made social-media posts referencing drugs, murder, and firearms, and touting the success of revenge-driven activities they had carried out. From 2003 to Arnold’s final arrest in 2015, law enforcement arrested numerous SMB members associated with Arnold for illegal activities consistent with the drug-dealing business. These included, among other things, drug distribution, drug possession, firearm possession, and illegal home entry. Like many of his fellow gang members, Arnold was arrested several times from 2004 to 2006. Then, in 2007, Arnold was convicted of assault and illegal discharge of a firearm and, as a result, served more than five years in state prison. While in prison, Arnold remained in contact with members of the SMBs. And when Arnold got out of prison in 2013, he resumed activities with the gang. Shortly after Arnold’s release, tensions with a rival gang began to escalate. In July 2014, a vehicle containing members of a rival gang was fired upon after they had left a parole meeting. One of the individuals in the vehicle, Djuan Page, was shot in the eye and died a few weeks later from his injury. Time stamps from Arnold’s phone compared with cell tower pings placed Arnold in the vicinity of that shootin