Murder trial starts for founder of Irish Mafia gang

MARTINEZ - It has taken 12 years, a mistrial, and two grand jury indictments, but the trial for a founder of a local Irish-American street gang is set to begin.

On Wednesday, jury selection started for the trial of Coby Phillips, charged with murdering an Aryan Brotherhood drug dealer in 2004, conspiring to murder a defense attorney who secured a favorable plea deal for the main witness against Phillips, attempting to out another government informant, and possessing shanks in his Contra Costa jail cell.

Phillips' name is one of the most recognizable to law enforcement in the Contra Costa/Solano County area. In the mid-90s, he and three others formed a gang based in the Rodeo/Crockett area called the Family Affiliated Irish Mafia, also known as FAIM. In 2005 Phillips was charged (and later convicted) of federal drug crimes, along with a Sinoala Cartel member named Jose Vega-Robles.

The state's case against Phillips is propped up mostly by witnesses with extensive criminal backgrounds themselves; a former leader of a Sinoala Cartel drug ring, former members of FAIM or other white gangs, and Contra Costa jail inmates housed in the same module as Phillips.

The main witness is Jose Vega-Robles' brother, Sergio Vega-Robles, who testified that he and his brother ran a methamphetamine ring in the Bay Area, setting up safe houses in Solano and Contra Costa Counties. But complicating matters, Vega-Robles also testified that a Richmond policeman, Michael Wang, was discretely providing Jose Vega-Robles with information about law enforcement's activities.

Prosecutors say Phillips and Jose Vega-Robles shot and killed Darryl Grockett, an Aryan Brotherhood drug dealer, in a Cummings Skyway turnout in 2004, over a drug debt. Phillips' lawyer, Dan Horowitz, describes that theory as "ludicrous," saying Phillips and Grockett were friends, and pointing the finger at two Northern California residents who Grockett was allegedly extorting.

In 2013, a jury that saw the murder case against Phillips deadlocked and a mistrial was declared. Since then, a grand jury indicted Phillips with the new conspiracy charges.

Phillips, in a recent jailhouse interview where he publicly disavowed the use of swastikas as a white supremacy symbol, declined to talk about his case but said he expects to be acquitted. When asked what he would do as a free man, he first joked that he'd "live in a tent in Dan's yard," but then said he planned to leave the Bay Area and open his own business.

"Definitely, I've got to be legit. I've got no choice," Phillips said. "My kids are getting older and it's time to do something. If it ain't now, it never will be."

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