The “Nut Cases”
Flickr/Therion 666Game play from Grand Theft Auto III.
In late 2002, a group of self-described “Nut Cases” took the video game Grand Theft Auto III to a whole new level – reality. Getting high and playing the game during the day, the six-person group (five young men and one woman) acted out violent scenarios from the game at night.
Roaming the streets of Oakland, California, the Nut Cases would choose their victims seemingly at random — which tipped police off that this string of crimes differed from those that normally took place in Oakland and often involved illicit drugs.
Gunfire from the gang sprayed onto the streets and into homes. Altogether, the gang was responsible for five murders, nine robberies, and more than 100 muggings in their months-long shooting spree.
A witness brought the crimes to a halt by reporting the partial license plate number of a Buick seen at one of the robberies. The car belonged to a young woman named Aminah Shanta Dorsey-Colbert, whose record didn’t show any serious criminal activity. But things came together when police went through all reports involving the vehicle — and found other adolescents at the wheel.
The Nut Cases included Leon Wiley, 25; Joe Ralls, 26; Demarcus Ralls, 18; Jhomari Sutton, 20; and Deonte Donald, 17. The registered owner of the car, Dorsey-Colbert, was the lone woman in the group. She had masterminded one of the murders — that of a former lover, Joseph Mabry.
None of the Nut Cases denied that Grand Theft Auto III inspired their crimes. “We played the game by day and lived the game by night,” one of the perpetrators was quoted as saying to the police.
Juries sentenced three of the criminals to life in prison without parole. Gang members who didn’t commit felonies took plea deals for lesser terms. When families mentioned Leon Wiley’s victims in court, the ringleader chuckled. Upon hearing his life sentence, Wiley said, “I don’t give a f—.”
