Feature
15 suspected Eastside gang members face racketeering charges 6.6.11
INDIANAPOLIS STAR
Police rounded up 15 alleged members of an Eastside gang this morning and plan to charge them with criminal racketeering and other crimes.
The suspects, ranging in age from 16 to 30, committed armed robberies, carjackings and drug transactions dating back to 2007, police said.
“They menaced the Eastside,” said Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry. He said it will be the first time the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute had been used against a street gang in Indianapolis.
Public Safety Director Frank Straub said the “Pop It Off Boyz” also bought and sold guns.
“These are some very violent and dangerous individuals,” he said.
Eighteen teams from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and the Marion County sheriffs made the arrests during early-morning sweeps.
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