Dinkins

On March 22, 2003 WOODROW DINKINS beloved husband of Lila Dinkins; devoted father of Gregory Dinkins. Also survived by other loving family and friends. Friends may call at the Joseph L. Russ Funeral Home, 2222 W. North Avenue on Wednesday from 3 to 8 p.m. Family hour Thursday 10 a.m. with funeral to follow at 11 a.m. at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, 2201 Garrison Blvd.

A federal jury on Wednesday failed to agree on a death sentence, sparing the lives of two convicted killers and showing them the mercy that they denied their victims. Melvin Gilbert, 34, and James Dinkins, 36, were each sentenced to multiple life terms. They were convicted last month of running a vast drug operation known as "Special" in Northeast Baltimore and murdering three men, including two people they thought were law enforcement cooperators - "rats," according to Gilbert. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz promised that the co-defendants and "the poison that they brought" would never again "be anywhere close to Baltimore."

On April 30, 2005, Joseph; devoted husband of Regina Poole-Dinkins. He is also survived by two daughters, six sons, one sister, two brothers, one mother-in-law, one father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, many nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the New Shiloh Baptist Church, 105 East Avenue, Turners Station, MD on Thursday from 3 to 8 P.M. Family will receive friends Friday 10:30 to 11 A.M. at the above church with services immediately following. Interment Crownsville Veteran Cemetery.

James "Miami" Dinkins refused to testify during the life-or-death sentencing phase of his trial Monday, just as he chose not to speak during the fact-finding stage, in which he was found guilty of essentially being the hit man for a major drug operation in Northeast Baltimore. But he made sure the jury heard him. "I'm innocent," he cried out from the defense table, claiming that the government wanted him to become an informant in exchange for his freedom, but he didn't take the deal. Attorneys presented closing arguments in the sentencing phase of the weeks-long trial Monday.

On March 5, 2009, MARIE PRINGLE DINKINS. Friends may visit the family owned March Funeral Home West, Inc., 4300 Wabash Avenue, on Tuesday after 8:30 A.M., where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 P.M. The family will also receive friends on Wednesday at Faith, Hope and Charity Christian Center, 1705 N. Smallwood Street at 10:30 A.M., followed by funeral service at 11 A.M.

Woodrow Dinkins, founder of a chain of Baltimore dry-cleaning establishments, died of a stroke March 22 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 82 and lived in Northwest Baltimore. Mr. Dinkins was born and raised in Sumter, S.C., where he graduated from high school. He moved to Baltimore in 1942. He was employed for many years as a manager for the Style Uniform Company. In 1962, he established Dinkins Dry Cleaners, which has stores on West North Avenue, at North Avenue and Smallwood Street and in the Belvedere Hotel.

The field at Frederick Douglass High School had as much dirt as grass, no painted logos and rickety, worn-down stands. But tight end Darnell Dinkins looks back fondly at that time three years ago when he, as quarterback of a semipro team called the Pittsburgh Colts, played in the same city where he caught a 17-yard touchdown at lavish M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday. "You had to pay your way to travel," Dinkins said of his days in the National American Football League. "We played at the high school near Mondawmin Mall.

For quarterback Kyle Boller and tight end Darnell Dinkins, how they practiced during the week did not carry over into the game. And that was a good thing for the Ravens. Boller and Dinkins could never execute in practice a play they used in yesterday's 30-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys at M&T Bank Stadium. In the game, however, Dinkins found a seam in the Cowboys' zone and Boller zipped in a pass rather than lob it up (as they had practiced) for a 17-yard touchdown, a 7-3 Ravens lead in the third quarter and a defining moment in the game.

NEW YORK -- Think of it as a tale of two pols.For the best of times, we have New Jersey Gov. James J. Florio, the returned-from-the-dead tax raiser who rode a comfortable lead in the opinion polls into yesterday's election. For the worst of times, we have New York Mayor David N. Dinkins, the Democrat who may buck all the odds and lose re-election.The setting was the vote for governor of New Jersey and, across the Hudson River, for mayor of New York City. The two races have attracted attention in an off-election year for what they say about national politics -- taxes in New Jersey and race in New York.

Three years ago as New York Giants head coach, Jim Fassel would arrive at 6:30 a.m. to his training camp office, where he would be greeted by Darnell Dinkins. Interested in watching some tape, Dinkins was a fourth-string quarterback with no chance of making the team. But it was an opinion Dinkins did not share. It's that same attitude that allowed him to persevere through two position changes (from quarterback to free safety to tight end), two stints on NFL practice squads and one season playing semi-pro football.

Crips-related gang figure sentenced 3 A second member of a subset of the Crips gang was sentenced to prison for assaulting a man trying to intervene in what police believe was a gang initiation fight for the man's younger brother. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Pamela L. North on Thursday gave Jessie Mark Webster, 20, of Millersville a similar sentence to the one she handed down last week to the Rolling 60s leader who ordered the attack. Webster was sentenced to seven years in prison, four of them suspended, followed by five years of probation, according to court records.

Convicted hit man James Dinkins fired a string of slurs at a federal prosecutor Tuesday morning, calling the man a "bootlicker" and warning him to "stay away" from the defense side. The outburst came shortly before the jury entered the federal courtroom for the sentencing phase of Dinkins' trial, which will determine whether he and co-defendant Melvin Gilbert live or die. Both East Baltimore men were found guilty last week of murdering three men, including two witnesses, and running a drug conspiracy.

After two full days of deliberation, a federal jury found three men guilty Thursday of multiple murders and of running a lengthy drug conspiracy known as "Special" in Northeast Baltimore. A second phase of the trial will begin Tuesday to determine whether two of the men -Melvin Gilbert, 34, and James Dinkins, 37 - should be put to death. A third defendant, Darron Goods, 24, faces a maximum of life in prison. All three men were found guilty of drug conspiracy, selling heroin, cocaine, crack and marijuana.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Tuesday in a federal death penalty case set deep within the "violent world of drug dealing, intimidation and murder" of a tiny section of Northeast Baltimore, prosecutors say, and the alleged drug ring that ran it, selling heroin and crack under one name: Special. The three defendants - Marvin Gilbert, 34; James "Miami" Dinkins, 37; and Darron "Moo Man" Goods, 24 - are accused, in various combinations, of drug conspiracy and multiple killings, including the shooting deaths of two witnesses, one of them on Thanksgiving Day in 2006.

They called themselves "Special" and ran their Northeast Baltimore drug operation with the precision of a Swiss watch, according to a federal prosecutor, who outlined the group's "absolutely unrelenting violence" Wednesday during opening statements in the trial of three city men accused of drug conspiracy and multiple murders - including that of a government witness. "Special doesn't tolerate snitches," Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Dwyer said, then she promised to bring down the alleged gang by the very thing they supposedly hate: cooperators.

On March 5, 2009, MARIE PRINGLE DINKINS. Friends may visit the family owned March Funeral Home West, Inc., 4300 Wabash Avenue, on Tuesday after 8:30 A.M., where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 P.M. The family will also receive friends on Wednesday at Faith, Hope and Charity Christian Center, 1705 N. Smallwood Street at 10:30 A.M., followed by funeral service at 11 A.M.

James "Miami" Dinkins refused to testify during the life-or-death sentencing phase of his trial Monday, just as he chose not to speak during the fact-finding stage, in which he was found guilty of essentially being the hit man for a major drug operation in Northeast Baltimore. But he made sure the jury heard him. "I'm innocent," he cried out from the defense table, claiming that the government wanted him to become an informant in exchange for his freedom, but he didn't take the deal. Attorneys presented closing arguments in the sentencing phase of the weeks-long trial Monday.

UMBC led Vermont by 10 points with just less than a minute to play yesterday, but the fact that the Retrievers had been up by 20 just a few minutes earlier was enough to make coach Randy Monroe as animated as ever on the sideline. And he had good reason: UMBC had never defeated Vermont in six tries -- including an 0-4 mark in the Monroe era that began last season, making the Catamounts the only America East opponent it had yet to beat. But yesterday, the Retrievers ended that, never trailing on their way to an 86-73 win before 2,122 at the RAC Arena on a day when the school recognized nine former athletes being enshrined into the UMBC Hall of Fame.

Federal prosecutors in Maryland said yesterday they will seek the death penalty against two Baltimore men in a case involving three drug-related murders, including the fatal shooting of a federal witness. Melvin Gilbert, 33, and James Dinkins, 35, are accused of participating in a drug ring called Special that sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana in Baltimore between June 2002 and February 2007. The gang killed three people and shot a fourth to intimidate and retaliate against potential witnesses, according to Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

DANIEL WILCOX GREW UP IN Atlanta and he knows the streets can be tough for young black men. That's why the 30-year-old Ravens tight end was happy to take over a free football clinic, initially started by former Raven Darnell Dinkins. "When he left to go to Cleveland, he called to ask me to take over the camp for him so the thing can keep going for the kids," says Wilcox. "It's really beneficial to the young kids to see [that] we are the same kind of guys they are. ... We grew up in the same kind of neighborhoods.