Feds & Dallas Police Cracking Down On Violent Gang

Jack Fink
Reporting

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS Federal agents and the Dallas Police Department are cracking down on the city's largest and most violent gangs.

Nearly a dozen of the top members of the East Side Homeboys are now behind bars. They're accused of operating both in the city and in northern suburbs. Eleven higher-ups have been arrested and indicted.

More than 100 federal and local law enforcement officers were involved in the takedown.

According to ATF and federal drug agents, the gang has been selling ice and cocaine to adults and students for years, on the streets of Dallas and other cities including Plano and McKinney. "They were distributing large quantities in our communities, in our schools, and to our children," said John Ratcliffe, federal prosecutor for the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Texas.

Prosecutors say that the gang's activities have stretched as far east as Tyler and as far west as Lubbock. "It was a considerable operation they had going," said Lt. Santos Cadena of the Dallas Police Department's gang unit.

Since the investigation began in December of 2005, 32 people have been indicted. Four gang members face state murder charges. Eighteen members have been deported.

In all, agents say that $5 million in cash and proceeds will be forfeited, including nine vehicles.

Ten pounds of methamphetamine were seized from the gang, along with 30 guns. "Handguns, rifles, SKS assault rifles, shotguns and sawed off shotguns," described federal prosecutor Ratcliffe.

Police say the gang members often used these guns in violent crimes. "East Side being one of the larger gangs in Dallas, there are a number of instances of homicides related to drug trades, related to robberies," said Cadena.

While police say that this sweep put a major dent in the gang's operations, hundreds of members still remain.

If convicted, those who have been arrested face up to life in prison.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)