Latest round of charges announced against alleged gang members in Minneapolis
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger (right) and other law enforcement leaders announce charges against 14 additional alleged gang members at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis.
Matt Sepic | MPR News
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The crackdown on street gangs in Minneapolis continues. Federal prosecutors Wednesday charged 14 more alleged members of Minneapolis street gangs with gun and drug violations, bringing the total to nearly 60 this year.
MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with MPR News reporter Matt Sepic after U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger detailed the charges in a late morning press conference.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: Our lead story, the crackdown on street gangs in Minneapolis continues. Federal prosecutors today charged 14 more members of Minneapolis street gangs with gun and drug violations, bringing the total to nearly 60 this year. US attorney Andy Luger finished up a press conference about a half hour ago. MPR News reporter Matt Sepic was there and joins us right now. Thanks Matt.
MATT SEPIC: Hi, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Can you give us an overview on these charges, these latest charges?
MATT SEPIC: Well, these target primarily the Lows street gang. As you recall back in May, the feds charged 45 people who are largely members of the Bloods and the Highs. These charges are focused pretty much entirely this latest batch on gun and drug violations.
CATHY WURZER: What did officials say about the Highs and the Bloods? I mean, what do they know about these gangs?
MATT SEPIC: Well, the Highs, the Lows, and the Bloods are the three primary street gangs in Minneapolis, Cathy. The Highs and the Lows each generally operate on the north side with their respective territories to the north and south of West Broadway Avenue, the main thoroughfare through North Minneapolis.
The Bloods gang, which has been around for decades in one form or another, generally operates in South Minneapolis, and federal and local officials say they are responsible for quite a bit of the violent crime, shootings in particular in the city.
CATHY WURZER: Now, help me out here, didn't federal authorities have similar charges brought last May?
MATT SEPIC: Right. And those targeted the Highs and the Bloods. And what was notable about that case is that they brought racketeering charges against those alleged gang members. Just last week one member of the Bloods, 35-year-old Nathan Walz was found guilty by a federal jury-- this was actually just on Friday-- of gun and drug charges.
Many of his codefendants who were charged at that time also faced racketeering charges. That was not the case with this latest group of 14 defendants who were charged most recently. And I asked US Attorney Andy Luger about that. Why no Rico charges, as they're known, this time around?
And he said that those could be coming in the future, but the priority right now is to get these 14 people off the streets to stop the violence. Here's what Andy Luger had to say regarding the Rico charges today.
ANDY LUGER: Our teams are hard at work pursuing broad Rico conspiracies as you saw in May. It takes time. And what we decided collectively was rather than wait for the conclusion of those investigations and building those complex and detailed cases, we would get these people off the streets quickly and swiftly.
MATT SEPIC: That was US Attorney Andy Luger speaking just in the last hour over at the federal courthouse here in Minneapolis.
CATHY WURZER: You know, I was watching the stream online of Andy Luger and other officials, and he said that crime is ticking down a little bit in the metro area. Is he taking credit for some of that drop given this crackdown?
MATT SEPIC: Well, yes, and he emphasized throughout his news conference that it has been a collaborative effort. It's not just the US Attorney's office. He's working with the FBI, other officials were there too. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt was there, as was Brian O'Hara, the Minneapolis police chief.
And they did touch on the fact that crime while it's still at unacceptable levels, there are far too many shootings, far too many victims still, is ticking downward. And they said that it is in no small part to this crackdown on gangs. Here's Chief Brian O'Hara if we have a minute to play what he had to say. He emphasized that there are far fewer crimes now, violent crimes, shootings, in Minneapolis compared to a year ago.
BRIAN O'HARA: There have been 127 fewer families who have had a loved one affected by gun violence this year compared to last. Despite having the lowest number of sworn members in the MPD in decades, the level of gun violence in Minneapolis this summer is dropping to near prepandemic levels.
MATT SEPIC: That was Chief O'Hara there speaking at that same news conference. So a final quick question here, Matt Sepic. These charges have been brought. Will we expect to see some of the first defendants in court soon?
MATT SEPIC: I would expect so, and I would expect also that since most of these cases were charged by criminal complaint in the federal system, pretty much everything goes to the grand jury unless you plan to plead guilty if you're a defendant. So I would assume that they are going to be making appearances soon if they haven't already.
They are all in custody. We did confirm that all 14 of these new defendants are in custody. They should be appearing in court, and we'll see the process move forward. In that first group of 45, as I mentioned, one of the defendants was found guilty by a jury on Friday, and at least three or four others, by my count, have already pleaded guilty. But these cases do take quite a bit of time to move through the system.
CATHY WURZER: Matt Sepic, thank you for your time.
MATT SEPIC: You're welcome.
CATHY WURZER: Matt Sepic from the MPR news room.
MATT SEPIC: Hi, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Can you give us an overview on these charges, these latest charges?
MATT SEPIC: Well, these target primarily the Lows street gang. As you recall back in May, the feds charged 45 people who are largely members of the Bloods and the Highs. These charges are focused pretty much entirely this latest batch on gun and drug violations.
CATHY WURZER: What did officials say about the Highs and the Bloods? I mean, what do they know about these gangs?
MATT SEPIC: Well, the Highs, the Lows, and the Bloods are the three primary street gangs in Minneapolis, Cathy. The Highs and the Lows each generally operate on the north side with their respective territories to the north and south of West Broadway Avenue, the main thoroughfare through North Minneapolis.
The Bloods gang, which has been around for decades in one form or another, generally operates in South Minneapolis, and federal and local officials say they are responsible for quite a bit of the violent crime, shootings in particular in the city.
CATHY WURZER: Now, help me out here, didn't federal authorities have similar charges brought last May?
MATT SEPIC: Right. And those targeted the Highs and the Bloods. And what was notable about that case is that they brought racketeering charges against those alleged gang members. Just last week one member of the Bloods, 35-year-old Nathan Walz was found guilty by a federal jury-- this was actually just on Friday-- of gun and drug charges.
Many of his codefendants who were charged at that time also faced racketeering charges. That was not the case with this latest group of 14 defendants who were charged most recently. And I asked US Attorney Andy Luger about that. Why no Rico charges, as they're known, this time around?
And he said that those could be coming in the future, but the priority right now is to get these 14 people off the streets to stop the violence. Here's what Andy Luger had to say regarding the Rico charges today.
ANDY LUGER: Our teams are hard at work pursuing broad Rico conspiracies as you saw in May. It takes time. And what we decided collectively was rather than wait for the conclusion of those investigations and building those complex and detailed cases, we would get these people off the streets quickly and swiftly.
MATT SEPIC: That was US Attorney Andy Luger speaking just in the last hour over at the federal courthouse here in Minneapolis.
CATHY WURZER: You know, I was watching the stream online of Andy Luger and other officials, and he said that crime is ticking down a little bit in the metro area. Is he taking credit for some of that drop given this crackdown?
MATT SEPIC: Well, yes, and he emphasized throughout his news conference that it has been a collaborative effort. It's not just the US Attorney's office. He's working with the FBI, other officials were there too. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt was there, as was Brian O'Hara, the Minneapolis police chief.
And they did touch on the fact that crime while it's still at unacceptable levels, there are far too many shootings, far too many victims still, is ticking downward. And they said that it is in no small part to this crackdown on gangs. Here's Chief Brian O'Hara if we have a minute to play what he had to say. He emphasized that there are far fewer crimes now, violent crimes, shootings, in Minneapolis compared to a year ago.
BRIAN O'HARA: There have been 127 fewer families who have had a loved one affected by gun violence this year compared to last. Despite having the lowest number of sworn members in the MPD in decades, the level of gun violence in Minneapolis this summer is dropping to near prepandemic levels.
MATT SEPIC: That was Chief O'Hara there speaking at that same news conference. So a final quick question here, Matt Sepic. These charges have been brought. Will we expect to see some of the first defendants in court soon?
MATT SEPIC: I would expect so, and I would expect also that since most of these cases were charged by criminal complaint in the federal system, pretty much everything goes to the grand jury unless you plan to plead guilty if you're a defendant. So I would assume that they are going to be making appearances soon if they haven't already.
They are all in custody. We did confirm that all 14 of these new defendants are in custody. They should be appearing in court, and we'll see the process move forward. In that first group of 45, as I mentioned, one of the defendants was found guilty by a jury on Friday, and at least three or four others, by my count, have already pleaded guilty. But these cases do take quite a bit of time to move through the system.
CATHY WURZER: Matt Sepic, thank you for your time.
MATT SEPIC: You're welcome.
CATHY WURZER: Matt Sepic from the MPR news room.
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