Boston: 27 suspected gang members detained in city's South Side
Police said the men had been intimidating the communities in which they lived
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These were the street names of just some of the two-dozen suspected Boston gang members who have been arrested in a large-scale police raid.
A total of 27 suspects were arrested on Thursday morning, after police swept through the Lenox Street projects, located in the city’s South End. They now face drug and gun charges.
“Through their sale of weapons and drugs, these defendants bring violence, fear and intimidation to a community in the heart of this City,” said federal prosecutor Carmen Ortiz.
“Lenox Street’s residents, surrounded by illegal activity and the violence that accompanies it, are made to feel like prisoners in their own homes. As the Department of Justice, we are committed to assisting residents in reclaiming their right live in a peaceful environment free from drugs, guns and violence.”
Many of those who were arrested are accused of being members of the Lenox Street Cardinals, Reuters reported. Nineteen of the suspects face federal gun and drug charges. Eight other suspects face state drug charges.
“[We] will continue to aggressively partner with its federal, state, and local law enforcement counterparts to dismantle criminal street gangs, and their drug trafficking and violence committed through the use of firearms”, said Daniel Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division.
“Furthermore, it demonstrates that law enforcement will not standby and allow these criminal street gangs to get away with such acts, which creates fear for the residents within the community. These arrests send a strong message.”
According to the Boston Police Department’s Boston Regional Intelligence Centre, the Lenox area was one of the city’s top 10 areas for violence in 2015, with 30 shootings and more than 75 reports of shots fired in the area from March 2012 to June 2015.
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