Nine DeKalb gang members indicted, ending ‘reign of terror’

A DeKalb County grand jury this week indicted nine members of a notorious street gang, allegedly responsible for five deaths over the last four months, on a 45-count indictment intended to send a strong message to their brethren.

“We are dealing with a violent street gang that is organized and determined,” DeKalb District Attorney Robert James said Friday. “We are more organized and more determined.”

The nine suspects, ranging in age from 17 to 25 years old, are members of the Hate Committee, an offshoot of the Gangster Disciples. James described them as the strong arms — “the most dangerous members of the gang.”

Their targets were primarily fellow gang members or associates who had not paid their dues, money that helps fund the gang’s criminal enterprises, James said. One of the victims, according to the indictment, was a member of the Bloods who had apparently disrespected 17-year-old Quantavious Hurt, the youngest member of the Hate Committee.

Arrested along with Hurt: Rodricous Gresham, 25; Perry Green, 18; Christopher Hamlett, 23; Sharita Nelson, 22; Karim Ficklin, 19; Joseph Broxton, 20 and Donald Glass, 25. Daniel Pena, 22, named in the indictment, remains at large.

Glass, aka “Smurf,” was the ringleader. Acting at the behest of the Gangster Disciples, he gave the orders to kill, James said.

“What we had here is a reign of terror in DeKalb County,” James said.