74 Suspected Gang Members Busted
Dozens of suspected gang members have been taken off the streets of Oakland County thanks to a multi-agency task force.
Seventy-four alleged members of two Pontiac gangs, under a federal indictment, will face charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine.
"It's an extremely large amount of drugs that were seized by the Federal Government FBI and the Oakland County Sheriff's department," said WWJ and Fox 2 Legal Analyst Charlie Langton.
Attorney for the Eastern District Barbara McQuade said that more than half of the 74 targeted are already behind bars.
"There are 31 or 32 who were arrested today, another 20 or so who were already locked up on other charges, and that gets us to about 52. And the officers and agents are continuing to arrest as we speak, the additional people who are charges in that complaint," McQuade.
Detroit FBI Special Agent in Charge, Andrew Arena, talked about what was confiscated when as the arrests were made.
"The task force seized $9,900 to date. We've seized 15 guns, including three assault rifles, three other long guns, three shotguns and six handguns; ten pounds of marijuana; 200 pills; between 50 and 100 cell phones, which we will exploit for evidentiary purposes; and some suspected cocaine," Arena said.
The defendants, all alleged members of the so-called "New World Order" and "Almighty Latin Kings," were arraigned one by one, Thursday afternoon.
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