The Georgia Attorney General’s Gang Prosecuting Unit has indicted 17 suspected gang members for alleged gang activity throughout the state, including murder, aggravated assault and the recruitment of children for the gang.
Authorities say the defendants are members of the 183 Gangster Bloods, also known as 1-8 Trey Bloods, which is a set of the national street gang Bloods based out of New York. According to the indictment, defendants engaged 136 predicated acts, including murder, aggravated assault and drug trafficking, committed across 10 counties - Athens-Clarke, Barrow, Bulloch, Candler, Chattooga, Fulton, Gwinnett, Laurens, Monroe and Walton.
“These 17 defendants are alleged to have engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity for the common purpose of illegally obtaining money, weapons and property for their gangs,” Attorney General Chris Carr said at a press conference announcing the indictment.
The investigation, called Operation Don Fall, began in January 2019 after the Georgia Department of Corrections approached the GBI’s Gang Task Force and continued until last month. The GBI has investigated 446 gang related cases this year across 100 Georgia counties and charged more than 170 gang members.
The 17 defendants face charges including murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, trafficking of drugs, criminal damage to property and arson. Two of the defendants remain at large.
Gov. Brian Kemp, who along with Carr led to the creation of the gang prosecution unit, expressed satisfaction for the work the unit has done since it became operational in July. Both are up for reelection.
“In a short time since the Gang Prosecution Unit has been operational, they have already charged close to 50 gang members and related criminals. That is what I call producing results,” Kemp said. “This isn’t the finish line. We are going to keep on fighting and we are going to continue to bring criminals to justice in our state and we will continue to work hard to make our communities safe.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Authorities say defendant Ralph Alicea, 49, is considered to be a national leader of the 183 Gangster Bloods; he is currently incarcerated at the Attica State Prison in New York. Jamar Ramsay, 39, is alleged to be a statewide leader of the gang; he is serving a life sentence for a 2006 Cobb County murder at Hays State Prison in Chattooga. Authorities say both have directed other defendants to engage in criminal activity for the benefit of the gang and each face five counts of violations of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.
According to the indictment, Ramsay is alleged to have sent out electronic communications with other defendants encouraging the recruitment of gang members throughout the state, asking other defendants to aggressively recruit new associates with an increased focus on youth.
He allegedly exchanged text messages with another defendant stating he was working on buying the neighborhood kids ice cream and putting together a cookout to recruit children to the gang.
“From promoting and hosting block parties to arranging for an ice cream truck to stop by so they can pass out ice cream sandwiches, these defendants are alleged to have engaged in the recruitment of very young children,” Carr said. “Gang activity targeting our school and children is particularly egregious and must not be tolerated.”
Kemp said he plans to introduce legislation during the next General Assembly session to increase penalties for those trying to recruit children to gangs. All defendants are charged with conspiracy to Violate the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The youngest among the 17 defendants is a 19-year-old facing murder and felony murder charges stemming from a fatal shooting in Barrow County in April.
Carr said criminal street gang recruitment is on the rise and the age of the members is trending younger, with a recent indictment involving gang members at a high school including members as young as 10 years old. GBI Director Mike Register said they know that the gang has held recruitment events recently in Georgia.
As part of the indictment, prosecutors included social media posts and lyrics from two different YouTube videos that features four of the 17 defendants as evidence of “acts in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
It comes as music industry groups and artists published a letter on The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week asking prosecutors to stop using song lyrics as evidence in criminal cases and encouraged the passage of federal legislation already introduced in Congress that will prevent lyrics from being used as evidence.
Carr said they will continue to use lyrics as evidence where appropriate.
“We are absolutely in favor of using lyrics where they are precise and where they are fact based,” he said. “We are going to take it on a case-by-case basis. We are going to make sure, any evidence that is admissible in court, it’s used to make sure the people of Georgia are safe.”
