Thirty gang members and associates charged with racketeering, murder

An eight-count federal court indictment unsealed in the Southern District of Georgia charges alleged members of the Sex Money Murder SMM gang and associates with crimes including racketeering and murder The defendants were arrested in four Georgia cities Savannah Hinesville Augusta and Atlanta according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday According to court records and testimony the defendants trafficked large amounts of deadly drugs including methamphetamine cocaine and heroin throughout the Savannah area They also are accused of taking part in sophisticated fraud schemes to obtain federal COVID- relief and unemployment benefits causing a loss of more than The indictment also charges Byron Hopkins in the shooting death of a -year-old gang member who sought to leave the gang Nowadays s indictment is an central step in ending gang violence on our streets and in our prisons declared Tara Lyons acting U S attorney for the Southern District of Georgia My office will continuously work with our law enforcement partners to ensure citizens safety According to court documents Hopkins and other SMM members intercepted a -year-old man in February and took him to a rural residential neighborhood where Hopkins shot him to death The victim had reportedly expressed a desire to leave the gang after accusing Hopkins of having sex with a minor girl who became pregnant If convicted the defendants face up to life in prison for the murder up to life in prison for the racketeering conspiracy and up to years behind bars for wire fraud The matter is being investigated by the FBI the U S Department of Labor the Army s Criminal Inspection Division the Georgia Bureau of Probe the state Department of Corrections and nine local law enforcement agencies The SMM gang is a subset of The Bloods a gang that originated in Los Angeles in the early s From there the gang spread to areas along the East Coast including Georgia where it operates inside and outside of prisons and jails The post Thirty gang members and associates charged with racketeering murder appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta