Friends of Ours

Weekly Gang Roundup

***  Members of the West Side Street Mobb in Seattle, WA plead guilty to running a prostitution ring which included girls as young as 15 years old:

Shawn Clark, a 21-year-old West Seattle man who authorities said pimped out two teenage girls, then took all of their earnings to support his lifestyle, pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court today. His plea was followed by guilty pleas from fellow West Side Street Mobb gang member Thomas Foster, 20, to four counts, including promoting prostitution, assault and conspiracy to commit prostitution; and Gerald Jackson, 21, to one count of promoting prostitution. Clark, Foster and Jackson are the latest members of the West Side Street Mobb to enter guilty pleas after Seattle police, the FBI, the King County Sheriff's Office, as well as county and federal prosecutors, started investigating the gang last year for allegedly running a large juvenile prostitution ring. * * * Federal prosecutors say that the West Side Street Mobb was formed only three years ago but now has 50 members and associates, and has been tied to two fatal shootings and to bank fraud. A handful of members are currently being prosecuted in U.S. District Court. Teen prostitution has become a growing problem in Seattle.

***  In St. Paul, MN an enraged father, a reputed member of the Bloods, allegedly hits his four-year-old son for wearing a shirt which was the color of a rival gang.

***  Over 100 members from 14 different gangs have been arrested "following an investigation that revealed drug-running activities stretching from Arizona to the East Coast":

A task force led by Phoenix police and the FBI announced they arrested 63 of the suspects early Wednesday. Two others turned themselves in, and nearly 40 people are outstanding, authorities said. The far-reaching criminal conspiracy case compiled by the FBI's Violent Street Gang Task Force received its nickname, Operation Trident, because investigators initially focused on three street gangs. Since January, investigators unraveled drug operations that supplied the local market and as far away as New York and Delaware.

***  Several members of MS-13 arrested in Long Branch, NJ on cocaine trafficking charges in an operation that brought in $600,000 a month.

***  In San Antonio, TX high ranking members of the rival Mexican Mafia and the Texas Syndicate gangs have been busted for allegedly peddling heroin, and more than $300,000 of junk was seized.

***  Deadly gang violence in El Paso, TX "is not likely to go away soon":

The deadly stompings, gunplay and street fighting that claimed the lives of three teenagers became the focus of three separate murder trials last week. Each case provided a glimpse of a violent gang subculture in El Paso that is not likely to go away soon. "It's inherent that it will increase," said Mary Lou Carrillo, a retired El Paso police sergeant, who spent most of her career investigating gangs. "There is no way we will see a decrease in gang violence with a population increase." El Paso is not only a growing city but also a prime spot on one of the busiest narco-trafficking corridors in the nation.

***  A member of the Crips in Wichita, KS has been sentenced to 96 months in prison following his conviction on federal racketeering and drug trafficking charges.

***  Police in Sioux Falls, SD busted a drug ring whose participants included "members of a Chicago-based street gang known at the Mickey Cobras":

"They are very well organized street gang from the Southside of Chicago and they are trying to spread out to other cities in the Midwest,” Lt. Steve Haney of the Sioux Falls Police Department said. Investigators believe they're doing that to expand their drug market.

***  Two members of the Insane Deuces receive life sentences in Chicago, IL following their convictions on federal racketeering and drug trafficking charges:

They are the seventh and eighth men to receive life sentences from the 2005 sweep. "The Insane Deuces was a diabolical group," [Judge Harry] Leinenweber said at one point during the hearings. "I can't feel particularly sorry." Of the 16 men charged, 14 were convicted, one pleaded guilty and one is still missing. The racketeering convictions tied the men to three murders, five attempted murders and up to $1.25 million in drug trafficking in 2002.

***  A Top 6 gang member was arrested for a double shooting in 2006 outside a Lake Worth, FL restaurant, and "is also a suspect in numerous shootings":  "the Top 6 street gang is linked to at least 150 shootings and 14 murders in Palm Beach County in recent years, according to authorities."

***  A member of the Third Shift gang in Manatee County, FL got sixty years in prison following his conviction on state racketeering charges, and the sentence "is the longest ever handed down to a gang member since the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution began using the racketeering statute to prosecute criminal gangs."

Weekly Gang Roundup: Mexican Mafia; Top-6; Ace Click; SUR-13; Valentine Bloods; Gangster Disciples; & MS-13

***  In San Diego County, CA police arrested 40 people, including more than a dozen allegedly tied to the Mexican Mafia, on charges including attempted murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking after a year-long investigation dubbed "Operation Keys to the City" that targeted the notorious prison gang:

U.S. Attorney General Karen Hewitt described the Mexican Mafia and its connection to Latino street gangs as a rigid hierarchy comprised of "members," "associates" and "soldiers" whose criminal enterprise spills into the community.  Some of the alleged crimes involved paying "taxes," which officials say is the term used by gang members who use violent acts to extort payments from victims. * * * FBI Special Agent-In-Charge Keith Slotter said the arrests in the operation have dealt a blow to the Mexican Mafia by disrupting the criminal enterprise. "These operations are not just a bunch of low level criminals that were caught up in a sweep," Slotter said. "These are dangerous, extremely violent individuals." * * * Hewitt said members of the Mexican Mafia are elected by fellow gang members and are the top of the hierarchy. They are followed by associates, many of whom are in custody and who are given the authority or "the keys," by members of the prison gang to order crimes in a neighborhood, city or prison yard, Hewitt said. Next come the soldiers, the low-level street gang members believed to be in the thousands who carry out and enforce the orders of the associates, she said.

Four men are being sought pursuant to the investigation and are considered fugitives: David Garcia, 43; Jorge Lerma-Duenas, 40; Ernest Soqui, 32; and Lance Agundez, 38.

***  In San Bernardino County, CA a reputed member of the Mexican Mafia charged with conspiring to murder a fellow gangster is missing after failing to appear for a court appearance:

The 49-year-old could be dead, out of the state, out of the country, or hiding in the local area - prosecutors say they have not been able to rule out any possibility. "I don't know what to believe. I really don't," said Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks, who successfully prosecuted Castrejon's three co-defendants and will prosecute him if he's found. "I don't know if he's in the state, out of the country. I don't know."

***  Palm Beach County, FL "is home to about 160 gangs, mostly made up of local, neighborhood 'hybrid' gangs not recognized nationally," and "national gangs" including:

Top 6: A Lake Worth-based gang responsible for several homicides and shootings. The gang, which claimed to be a rap group, grew from six members in 2000 to more than 300.

Ace Click: A West Palm Beach-based gang that has been in the city since 1998 and is known for drug trafficking and violence. The gang is also known for participating in a Gangstas & Thugs video. The video series show scenes of violence and gun flaunting in West Palm Beach and other areas.

SUR-13: A gang that operated in the Westgate neighborhood west of West Palm Beach. The gang, known for robberies, drive-by shootings, beatings and drug dealing, originated in southern California and answers to a prison gang known as the Mexican Mafia.

***  In Bradenton, FL the racketeering trial against alleged SUR-13 member Jimmie Sanchez has begun:

Sanchez . . . was arrested in July 2007 during "Operation Tidal Wave," an anti-gang racketeering case made by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office and the statewide prosecutor's office against reputed members of the SUR-13 street gang. The project signaled a new tactic by the sheriff's office to fight a gang population that reportedly numbers more than 600 members. The approach targets the gangs as ongoing criminal enterprises. Of the 14 SUR-13 defendants charged, 13 of them avoided lengthy prison sentences by accepting plea deals with prosecutors.

***  In Pasco County, FL authorities have busted alleged members of the Valentine Bloods gang:

With Wednesday's announcement of eight members indicted on federal drug and gun charges, law enforcement officers are hoping the local branch of the nationwide gang has been crippled. * * * The men face a total of 24 counts of federal firearms and drug charges, including trafficking. Some of those indicted could face as much as life behind bars. * * * The eight indicted, according to ATF Special Agent in Charge Virginia O'Brien, have been arrested a total of 120 times and and have 20 previous convictions among them. * * * Currently, it's thought that the local set of the Valentine Bloods has 50 to 60 active members and associates in West Pasco.

***  Police in Memphis, TN have indicted 30 people on drug trafficking charges, and more than half of them are members of the Gangster Disciples:

Police had 22 of those charged under arrest and were looking for the others. Officers also seized an unannounced amount of drugs and at least 19 guns, including a half-dozen assault-type rifles. The accused have a total of 75 prior felony convictions, police said, and more than half are members of the Gangster Disciples street gang. Five have been convicted of robbery or aggravated robbery and more than half have been charged with firearm offenses. Three have convictions for second-degree murder.

***  Prosecutors in Los Angeles, CA have filed a lawsuit "aimed at curtailing gang and narcotics activity at a Pico-Union apartment complex that authorities contend is the epicenter of the Mara Salvatrucha gang's empire":

The drug abatement and public nuisance lawsuit seeks a court order forcing the building's owner to curtail criminal activity at the property. It also seeks an order appointing a receiver, who would take over management of the property. The suit is the latest effort by City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo's office to use the civil courts to crack down on alleged gang hangouts. Prosecutors say owner Jacob Libman allows the gang -- known as MS-13 -- to live in the building and use it as a stronghold for illicit activity. * * * Prosecutors say the 24-apartment building on Fedora has become a magnet for crime. Since October 2004, dozens of crimes have been committed at or near the property, Riordan said. The suit also alleges that the landlord permitted the gang to run an "after-hours club" where alcohol, drugs and sex were available for purchase. Libman is already facing a felony drug charge in connection with a December 2008 arrest, according to prosecutors.

***  Four alleged members of MS-13 were arrested in Houston, TX:

"The men are from Mara-Salvatrucha. This is a Central American gang that has come into the U.S. It is taking over different cities," said an undercover special agent from Houston's FBI. Mara Salvatrucha is also known as MS-13, and they are one of the most violent gangs in the United States. In Houston, authorities say there are up to 15 groups of MS-13 members committing violent crimes.

The men were arrested following an investigation after a complaint by several women at a beauty salon who allegedly had been robbed and extorted by the gang:

The women worked at a beauty salon near Fondren and Westheimer. They say that last month, MS-13 gang members held them up. Then they took their money, stole their property, and raped one of the victims. But before the gunmen left, the gang members told the women their salon would have to pay $100 a week for protection. According to the undercover FBI agent, this is what worries law enforcement the most. "Once they come over, they get a hold of some of these businesses and they start receiving additional income. Then, the groups start getting stronger and they bring more people into the group," said the special agent. A week later, the MS-13 group returned to the salon to collect their extortion money, but the women locked the doors. Police say the gang members retaliated by driving by and opening fire. "It took us about two weeks to crack group. We kept on them," said the special agent. In all, seven people, including a 15-year-old boy, have been taken into custody. During the arrest, the task force found guns, ammunition, a machete and written plans to conduct another robbery.

Video

***  Illinois legislators "hope to blot out inked criminals with legislation cracking down on tattoo parlors":

Tattoo artists who draw gang symbols could be stuck with a fine and see their licenses revoked. The bill's author, state Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, wants to cross out the growing influence of street gangs across Illinois.

***  In Chicago, IL violent crime, including murder, is up from last year, and "police believe one of the reasons for this is an increase in violence among gangs":

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis says the city's gang structure is changing and it's become more challenging to fight it. The police superintendent believes the up-tick in gang violence may - oddly enough - be the result of success in dismantling larger street gangs. "Where you might have a larger territory controlled by one gang, now that same territory may have multiple smaller cells, all very violent, but they're competing and fighting even between themselves or with rival gangs. You've got smaller independent gangs fighting over smaller turf," Supt. Jody Weis, Chicago Police Department.

Weekly Gang Roundup: MS-13; Bloods; Nine Trey; Sex Money Murder; Top 6; & Mexican Mafia

***  A report by the Justice Department's National Gang Intelligence Center estimates there are 1 million street and prison gang members in the United States who are an army of drug traffickers:

[The] gangs are the "primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs" and several are "capable" of competing with major U.S.-based Mexican drug-trafficking organizations. "A rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships" with U.S. and foreign drug-trafficking organizations and other criminal groups to "gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs," the report concludes.

The problem has only been getting worse:

The gang population estimate is up 200,000 since 2005. Bruce Ferrell, chairman of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association, whose group monitors gang activity in 10 states, says the number of gang members may be even higher than the report's estimate. "We've seen an expansion for the last 10 years," says Ferrell, who has reviewed the report. "Each year, the numbers are moving forward." * * * "Most regions in the United States will experience increased gang membership … and increased gang-related criminal activity," the report concludes, citing a recent rise in gangs on the campuses of suburban and rural schools.

MS-13 remains the threat which causes the most concern to law enforcement:

One group that continues to spread despite law enforcement efforts is the violent Salvadoran gang known as MS-13. Michael Sullivan, the departing director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, says the gang's dependence on shocking violence to advance extortion, prostitution and other criminal enterprises has frustrated attempts to infiltrate and disrupt the insular group's activities. "MS-13's foothold in the U.S. is expanding," Sullivan says. Kaiser says the street gang is in 42 states, up from 33 in 2005. "Enforcement efforts have been effective to a certain extent, but they (gang members) keep moving," he says. MS-13 is the abbreviation for the gang also known as Mara Salvatrucha. The group gained national prominence in the 1980s in Los Angeles, where members were linked to incidents involving unusual brutality. Since then, it has formed cells or "cliques" across the U.S., says Aaron Escorza, chief of the FBI's MS-13 National Gang Task Force. * * * Escorza says a "revolving door" on the border has kept the gang's numbers steady — about 10,000 in the U.S. — even as many illegal immigrant members are deported.

Read National Gang Threat Assessment 2009

***  In Alexandria, VA the MS-13 leader that runs the Washington, D.C. faction known as Normandie Locos Salvatrucha was indicted on federal racketeering charges involving two shootings.

***  Criminal prosecutions by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office jumped by 47 percent in 2008 from the previous year, and the clamp down on street gangs was a significant factor in the increase:

The largest increase was in the Gangs and Organized Crime bureau, which more than doubled its number of cases over two years, from 109 in 2007 to 226 last year. Those included indictments against 15 members of the Nine Trey Headbustas gang in Camden and 25 guilty pleas from members of the Sex Money Murder set of the Bloods gang who were indicted in 2007.

***  In Newark, NJ police busted 20 alleged members and associates of a Bloods set called Sex Money Murder on drug trafficking charges:

During the raids, officials also confiscated three loaded semiautomatic handguns, more than a pound of cocaine and 100 grams of heroin. In addition, authorities seized three vehicles and about $50,000 in cash.

***  In Trenton, NJ a leader of the Nine Trey Gangsters set of the Bloods street gang has been sentenced to 70 years in prison:

Under the sentence imposed Friday, 26-year-old Michael Smart of Irvington, a reputed "Universal 4-Star General" in Nine Trey, must serve more than 46 years before becoming eligible for parole. A Mercer County jury convicted Smart last week on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses. * * * He was one of 46 alleged Nine Trey members indicted in September 2007.

***  Two members of the Haitian street gang Top 6 were each sentenced to 25 years in prison following their convictions last December in Palm Beach County, FL on racketeering charges.

***  In Texas four members of the Mexican Mafia have reached agreements to plead guilty for a series of murders from 2000 to 2004:

In exchange for their guilty pleas to racketeering-conspiracy charges, they each agreed to be sentenced to 25 years in prison. The killings, like 18 others, had gone unsolved for years, and until recently, details had been scant. But the men's plea documents give a glimpse of the bloody way the gang punished its own and dealt with those who crossed its path.

The four were among 34 indicted on federal racketeering charges, and to date half of the defendants have pleaded guilty and the remaining half are scheduled for trial in August.

Weekly Gang Roundup: Bloods; Crips; Barrio Azteca; Top-6; & Mexican Mafia

***  After a year-long investigation nine members of the Bloods and Crips who jointly operated a drug trafficking ring have been busted in New Jersey: 

Authorities say the group members . . . were working together to push the drugs. "We're seeing more and more that various members of gangs are getting together," Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said. "We have Crips and Bloods here, different sets are uniting."

***  Six members of the Barrio Azteca gang with ties to the Juarez drug cartel were convicted in El Paso, Texas on federal racketeering charges:

The monthlong trial offered a glimpse into the El Paso-Juárez underworld and a conspiracy stretching from prisons where capos in the gang's military-style hierarchy issued orders to street soldiers to collect "quotas" from drug dealers. The trial also featured coded messages, the murder of an alleged drug dealer and ties to the Juárez drug cartel. * * * Barrio Azteca, also known as the BA, was formed in 1986 by El Pasoans in prison and since has grown to 3,000 members across the Southwest, experts say.

The defendants were convicted under the The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act:  "Law enforcement officials said gangs are the perfect example of organized crime, particularly when the gangs have leadership, structures, rules, and plan and commit crimes."  The FBI is looking for Eduardo "Tablas" Ravel, the gang's key leader, in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso.

***  Two members of Top-6 were convicted in Palm Beach County, Florida on state racketeering charges:  "The Top-6 gang is a violent Haitian group that has been connected to a number of murders, both as assailants and victims." Additional gang members are scheduled for future trial.

***  "The level of threat posed by the Mexican Mafia is . . . high in southern California, the southwestern US and in areas where local drug trafficking is controlled by Hispanic gangs."

 

Weekly Gang Roundup: 12th Street Gang; Mexican Mafia; Top 6; 18th Street Gang; Bloods; & Latin Kings

***  Lee County Sheriff's detectives in Florida arrested 14 teenage and adult alleged gang members in a sting operation "targeting the online promotion and recruitment of criminal organizations on social networking sites like myspace.com."

***  Shauntay Henderson, leader of the 12th Street gang in Kansas City, MO, once on the FBI's Most Wanted List, has been convicted of manslaughter, and is suspected in several other murders.

***  Michael Vargas and Ray Carrasco have pleaded guilty in San Antonio, TX for their roles in a federal racketeering case brought against multiple members of the Mexican Mafia, allegedly responsible for up to 20 unsolved murders, and authorities expect additional defendants to sign plea agreements:

The pair's plea paperwork gives a glimpse into the bloody reign that made the gang — also known as "Mexikanemi" — a formidable but slippery force for law enforcement in Bexar County over two decades. Founded in 1984 by Heriberto "Herb" Huerta of San Antonio, the gang is blamed for peddling large quantities of heroin and cocaine on the streets and further profiting by taxing other drug dealers 10 percent, a street tax called "the dime."

***  Ernst Exavier and Jessee Thomas, alleged members of Top 6, are on trial in West Palm Beach, FL on racketeering charges:

The two men were arrested in a June sweep of 11 Top 6 associates, heralded at the time by investigators as slicing off the top tier of the gang that has been connected to 150 shootings and at least 14 homicides in Palm Beach County. Top 6, investigators say, started off as a rap music group and thrived until it became one of the most criminally successful - and brutal - gangs in South Florida. Racketeering has historically been charged in organized crime cases, and Exavier's and Thomas' trial may well be the first one in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to use that statute as a weapon against gangs. The statewide prosecutors trying the case must prove only that Exavier and Thomas committed two offenses during their affiliation with the gang. One prosecutor told jurors in opening statements that the two were engaged in a pattern of drugs, guns and violence.

***  WBTV from Charlotte, NC aired an interview with an ATF undercover agent who infiltrated MS-13 in Washington, D.C. for 18 months to bring down 23 of its gang members.  The agent's identity remains disguised due to current undercover operations with which he is involved.

***  Ruben "Niteowl" Castro, a member of the Mexican Mafia and kingpin of the 18th Street gang who already is serving three life terms pursuant to a 1997 conviction, has been sentenced to more than 27 years for racketeering activities in connection with a criminal takeover of MacArthur Park in Los Angeles which he orchestrated from a maximum security prison in Colorado:

Gangs under his control allegedly taxed drug dealers in the area, as well as MacArthur Park fruit and ice cream vendors. Police also reported gang members taxing people who play chess on park tables. Revenue was divided among Castro and his associates on the street. Because of the extent of his criminal reach from federal prison in Florence, Colo., Los Angeles Magazine picked Castro as one of the city's most powerful people in December 2006.

***  In New Jersey "[i]mprisoned leaders of the Bloods street gang, with the help of corrupt corrections officers and staff as well as visitors, control their criminal organization from behind bars by using smuggled cell phones."

***  The FBI is offering a $10,000 award for Latin Kings leader Vincente Garcia in connection with his alleged role in a Chicago cocaine trafficking ring.

***  In Chicago there are at least 80 street gangs with an estimated 75,000 members, and this weekend the Organized Crime Division of the Chicago Police held a conference for its gang and tactical officers to share intelligence and techniques.

***  The Chicago Police Department has restructed itself to address the city's gang problem:

Four-hundred officers will form a new Gang Enforcement Unit and will be available to combat gangs citywide and not just in the district where they are currently assigned. * * * [The] restructuring comes as Chicago is experiencing a striking spike in violence, including a 16 percent increase in homicides this year. There have been 474 homicides this year — more than all of last year but still well below the 600 people killed in the city five years ago. On a day-to-day basis, the 400 gang officers will work out of the city’s five detective headquarters, providing gang enforcement for each of the city’s 25 districts. But any intelligence they gather will be passed to the Gang Investigations Section, which does indepth investigations into gang crime. The new arrangement should result in a more efficient sharing of information among gang officers in the city, helping police anticipate and prevent gang crime, officials said.

***  "the notion that gangs are confined to large urban areas and certain ethnic groups is outdated"

***  "In the past five years, more than a dozen teenagers have died in gang shootings" in Clayton County, Georgia.