ATLANTA — Georgia's Gang Prosecution Unit, which formed earlier this year, has charged close to 50 alleged gang members and related criminals with crimes, Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday.
Kemp joined Attorney General Chris Carr, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Mike Register, and others at the State Capitol to announce the results of its gang crackdown initiatives. Carr introduced a statewide unit dedicated to prosecuting gang violence across Georgia in June, with the unit going into effect on July 1. The groundwork for this initiative was made possible by HB1134, which gave the attorney general's office the jurisdiction to prosecute criminal gang-related activity across the state.
Kemp called the unit's work so far a success and said they've been working hard to produce results.
“This isn’t the finish line. We're going to keep on fighting and we're going to keep on bringing criminals to justice in our state," he said.
Carr gave a breakdown of the unit's work.
“In less than a month, we’ve obtained 11 indictments, charging 46 alleged gang members with a range of crime that span 13 counties around the state – an amazing statistic considering that this unit did not even exist before July 1 of this year," Carr said.
Seventeen of those indicted are allegedly a part of the 183 Gangster Bloods (1-8 Trey Bloods) in Barrow County, Carr said. The indictment, Carr said, alleges that the defendants were engaged in racketeering activity and other crimes.
"Our indictment lists 136 underlying acts which the defendants are alleged to have committed," Carr said, adding that some of those "acts" include murder, arson, aggravated assault, drug-related charges, and more.
He said the criminal activity happened between Jan. 2019 through October of this year in 10 counties, including in Gwinnett and Fulton in metro Atlanta.
According to Carr, one of the defendants indicted is allegedly a national leader in the 183 Gangster Bloods, who is currently incarcerated in New York; another - incarcerated in Georgia - is an alleged statewide gang leader.
"While incarcerated, these two individuals are alleged to have directed other defendants to engage in criminal activity," he said.
Outside of the work the Gang Prosecution Unit has done, Kemp said the GBI gang taskforce, has investigated 446 gang-related cases across 100 Georgia counties in the past year alone, charging more than 170 alleged gang members.
Kemp said some gang members target elementary school-aged children, calling the move unacceptable.
"The bad guys are literally coming after our kids," Kemp said.
Carr added people terrorized most often by gangs are from communities that are racially diverse, immigrant populations, or have lower incomes.
About $1.3 million from the budget was allocated to help support the Gang Prosecution Unit, Kemp said.
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