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ATLANTA (CN) — Prison walls have not been enough to thwart a violent criminal enterprise conducted by the “Sex Money Murder” gang, prosecutors say in a 12-count federal indictment of nearly two dozen gang members and associates with a racketeering conspiracy involving drug trafficking and murder.
The indictment announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday outlines how members of the gang — including defendants already incarcerated in Georgia prisons — distributed meth and orchestrated bank fraud, attempted arson and multiple murders over a period of about 10 years.
Of the 23 defendants, 11 were in prison when they committed or ordered the charged offenses, according to the indictment returned by a Northern District of Georgia grand jury in October and unsealed Nov. 9.
Three of the defendants are former Georgia state prison correctional officers who prosecutors say participated in possessing or distributing drugs.
According to the indictment, gang members and associates smuggled cellphones, meth and other substances into federal prisons. The contraband phones were used to coordinate gang activity behind bars, U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said.
Prosecutors say incarcerated members of the gang beat, stabbed or murdered other inmates for disrespecting gang leadership or violating gang rules. One person was repeatedly stabbed and another was murdered by gang members for breaking the Sex Money Murder rule against “homosexual activity,” prosecutors say in the indictment.
“It’s alarming to think that these criminals were brazen enough to distribute dangerous drugs and commit heinous crimes while behind bars,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Murphy of the Drug Enforcement Administration Atlanta Division in a statement on Tuesday. “They must now face the consequences.”
The members of the Sex Money Murder gang also committed no shortage of crimes outside prison walls, prosecutors say. In one instance, four gang members and associates stormed a home in DeKalb County, Georgia and fired gunshots into a bathroom, killing a nine-month-old boy.
The crimes were carried out “all to enhance the power and prestige” of the gang, Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement on Tuesday.
“With this RICO indictment, the Criminal Division, along with our federal, state, and local partners, again shows its commitment to hold accountable and bring to justice violent gang members who terrorize our communities and attempt to control our country’s prison systems,” Argentieri said.
Buchanan called the indictment “the culmination of a lengthy and carefully coordinated federal and state law enforcement investigation aimed at dismantling this violent group.”
The Sex Money Murder gang is a national gang and a subset of The Bloods gang that originated in the early 1970s in Los Angeles. The subset has spread from the Bronx and New York to areas across the East Coast, where it operates inside and outside prisons.
According to court records, 17 of the defendants have been arraigned and pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, the defendants could face up to life imprisonment on the racketeering conspiracy charge. The charges for firearms offenses carry a penalty of five years to life and the charges for drug trafficking and narcotics conspiracy carry a penalty of 10 years to life in prison.
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