Gang News

Known as “cyberbanging,” gangs are recruiting new members, intimidating rivals, promoting criminal activity and advertising their brand online. The ever-expanding reliance on social media has transcended banal conversation between friends and family to the more sinister realm of gang-related criminal activity, requiring law enforcement to stay ahead of emerging trends and platforms. “If your law…

A partnership between an investigator, an analyst and a prosecutor to share data and collaborate on cases is reducing gang crime in Georgia. Gangs operate across agency boundaries often exploiting the fact that each police department will have its own data on gang members and that it’s difficult to share this data between agencies. Of…

n resource-strapped times, intelligence-led policing is a key to identifying and investigating gang activity. This special coverage series reviews strategies departments can deploy to take a data-driven approach to reducing gang-related crime. Intelligence-led policing is more than just the latest buzzword and magnet for grant money. In an age where law enforcement agencies are compelled…

Atlanta sees 21% drop in homicides after gang, gun crackdownAtlanta PD Chief Schierbaum said officers removed 3,000 guns from city streets in 2023 while charging 140 documented gang members with 560 crimesJanuary 18, 2024 10:32 AMUS-NEWS-ATLANTA-HOMICIDES-DROP-21-AFTER-1-AT.jpgDecember 15, 2023 Atlanta: One person is dead and another is injured after an argument led to gunfire early Friday…

Some kids may be fascinated by the gang lifestyle and love the rush and adrenaline of breaking the law, according to Robert Ontiveros, former gang member and mentor who partners with Learn4Life, a network of 80+ free public high schools. “Everything we do is planting seeds in their minds. They may not understand now, but…

The MS-13 members had been cruising all night in a gray Mercedes, searching for rival gang members to kill in Maryland or Virginia so they could bolster their street cred and expand their turf. Then they spotted Antonio Kaoul Smith, 37, leaving a 7-Eleven convenience store in Dumfries, Va. He was a stranger carrying a…

‘At least four people are dead as a result of the defendant’s conduct,’ U.S. District Judge James Bredar said. An enforcer for the CCC gang in Baltimore was sentenced on Thursday to serve 35 years in federal prison for taking part in at least four murders and three attempted murders, marking one of the harshest…

WILMINGTON, Del. – David C. Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced that Melanie Mitchell, age 35 and an Ocean View resident, was sentenced last week to 42 months in prison for distribution of methamphetamine. The Honorable Colm F. Connolly, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, pronounced…

WILMINGTON, Del. – David C. Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware announced today that a Wilmington man was sentenced yesterday to 118 months in federal prison for devising a plot to engage in interstate murder-for-hire. Chief U.S. District Judge Colm F. Connolly pronounced the sentence. According to court documents, Javier A. Rodriguez, age…

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Brayan Alexander Torres, a/k/a “Spooky,” age 29, of Adelphi, Maryland, yesterday to 28 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for a racketeering conspiracy, including murder, related to his participation in the Weedams Locos Salvatrucha (“WLS”) clique of the MS-13 gang, which…