While Lamonte Lloyd of Scotland Neck waived his detention hearing and was remanded to custody, David Earl Watson of Rich Square was granted release on certain conditions. Conditions of his release were not immediately available in electronic court records.
The arraignments were held Thursday in Charlotte before federal Magistrate Judge David Kessler.
Lloyd entered not guilty pleas on nine counts against him. Most of those nine charges reflect the murders of Jimmy Ray Daniels in Scotland Neck and Cheeontah Howard in Gastonia.
The original indictment in the case alleges the murders were based on racketeering activity by Lloyd, who goes by the street Murder Mo and Moo, and Tyquan Powell, of Charlotte, also known as Savage, who allegedly killed Daniels and Howard with premeditation and deliberation.
Powell has not yet had his arraignment.
Daniels was shot and killed while sitting in his vehicle at Grace and Eleventh streets in Scotland Neck. The state had planned to call Daniels as a witness in the case of Jimmel Horton, which ended in a mistrial. Horton had been charged in the 2013 murders of Monte Hines and Chris Harrison.
Meanwhile, Watson, who sources have said was high up in the UBN, pled not guilty to the racketeering and conspiracy counts he faces. He has been referred to as a shot caller within the UBN.
Another person charged in the case with Rich Square ties, Bianca Kiashie Harrison, also known as Lady Gunz, has already entered a not guilty plea.
The indictment shows Watson paid gang dues on at least five occasions from at least 2010 to 2015 and in 2014 with Harrison and another person indicted conducted a gang meeting inside the New York State Department of Correction.
Harrison also conducted a gang meeting on her own inside NYDOC, the indictment says.
In 2015 she conducted another meeting with another person indicted within the NYDOC and twice conducted a gang meeting in Mecklenburg County.
Watson reportedly conducted a gang meeting by phone and was sent a message discussing a Blood member who might be cooperating with law enforcement.
The indictment notes Harrison in 2016 conducted a gang meeting by phone and attempted to locate a witness who cooperated with law enforcement about other gang members.
In all, 83 members of the group were indicted following a five-state raid.
The charges were related to federal racketeering conspiracy charges and charges related to murder, attempted murder, violent assault, narcotics distribution, firearms possession and Hobbs Act robbery.
A number of defendants are also charged with bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to financial crimes.
The operation was a coordinated effort involving more than 600 federal, state and local law enforcement officers who executed the arrest warrants in Charlotte, Cleveland County, and eastern North Carolina.