HYANNIS, Mass. — Like most boys, 13-year-old Mykel Mendes looked up to his big brother, Jordan. The two rode bikes together, did yard work together and hung out together. But in the family business — a major drug ring — Mykel did not want to share, police say.
Mykel, a 7th grader, is now accused of masterminding the slaying of his 16-year-old half-brother so he could take over the drug operation — one police say they inherited from their father, who is in prison for running one of the biggest cocaine rings on Cape Cod.
Jordan was found shot, stabbed 27 times and dumped into a pit, where his body was torched. Another 13-year-old friend and a 20-year-old cousin also are charged with murder.
Jordan Mendes lived just a few miles from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port.
“It’s very disturbing,” said Debra Dagwan, a Hyannis resident and member of the local school board. “It indicates what drugs can do to people, whether they are involved with drugs or selling them. It’s a dangerous life, no matter how you look at it.”
Mykel’s lawyer, John Cunha, dismissed claims by authorities that Mykel planned his brother’s death to take over his drug business.
“He loved his brother,” Cunha said. “He’s not the 13-year-old Al Capone.”
The boys’ father, Manuel Mendes, 33, ran a drug ring that brought large quantities of cocaine to the Cape from New York and Boston. Jordan was 8 and Mykel just 5 when he was arrested and sent to prison to serve eight to 10 years. Two years later, in 2002, authorities caught him running the drug business from behind bars. That time, he was sentenced to 35 years on federal drug trafficking charges.
Authorities say Jordan took over where his father left off, selling OxyContin and cocaine. District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said Jordan was a “significant drug dealer.”
Mykel, according to authorities, was jealous of the money Jordan was making and wanted to take over.
Over two days in December, police say, Mykel, his 20-year-old cousin, Robert Vacher, and 13-year-old Kevin Ribeiro stole $10,000 in cash from Jordan, killed him, poured gasoline on his body and set him on fire.
The three walked into a car dealership, pulled the $10,000 out of their pockets and bought a used silver BMW, O’Keefe said.
Lawyers for all three youths deny they took part in the slaying.
“To actually kill somebody to obtain money to buy a used car, which they have no license for and won’t be able to get a license for almost four years — that’s not the way 13-year-olds think,” said William Gens, Ribeiro’s lawyer.
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