Max B Gets 75 Years

Max B was sentenced Thursday to 75 years in prison for masterminding a deadly robbery at a Fort Lee hotel four years ago. His stepbrother received a life term plus 35 years for his part in the scheme.

Charly Wingate, better known in hip-hop circles as “Max B,” was convicted of felony murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and several other offenses in a June trial in which witnesses testified that he planned the September 2006 robbery at the Holiday Inn on Route 4.

His co-defendant and stepbrother, Kelvin Leerdam, was convicted of the same counts after jurors found that he shot one of the robbery victims, David Taylor.

Both Wingate and Leerdam looked resigned when Superior Court Judge Harry G. Carroll sentenced them in Hackensack. Wingate said he was not happy with his attorney, Gerald Saluti, and fired him during the hearing just before he received his sentence.

His mother, Sharon Wingate, said he will appeal the conviction.

“We will be back,” she said.