Group targets trafficking of guns in state

Regional task force aims to cut off access of gangs

A gang task force created earlier this year has uncovered a gun-trafficking trade in northeast Arkansas that law enforcement authorities are working to shut down, government officials said last week.

The 2nd Judicial District Organized Criminal Activity Task Force targets criminal organizations that officials believe are involved in such things as drug trafficking, money laundering, arms violations, violent crime and human smuggling.

The task force comprises law enforcement agencies in six counties in northeast Arkansas: Clay, Greene, Mississippi, Poinsett, Crittenden and Craighead.

"We are the first gang task force in a mostly rural part of Arkansas," chief deputy prosecutor Grant DeProw said.

Gun trafficking has become the task force's main focus because the region has become a thriving area for the trade of firearms, DeProw said.

"We've got [illegal] guns coming from within [Jonesboro] and from outside the state," DeProw said. "We can cut our violent crime down if we can stop these guns from getting in the hands of these criminal organizations. If you can cut off the guns used in these crimes, then everything else will follow. It's all about the firearms."

DeProw said some criminal organizations within Jonesboro have found ways to fund themselves by trafficking guns alone.

"They are just breaking into vehicles and stealing weapons and then putting them on the market," he said.

In 2017, Arkansas exported guns that were used in crimes at nearly twice the national rate, according to research done by the Giffords Law Center.

According to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 2,315 firearms from Arkansas were recovered in 2018. Stolen weapons were recovered at the scenes of 65 homicides in 2018.

From 2011 to 2016, there were 505 reported firearm thefts in Jonesboro, according to statistics compiled by the Jonesboro Sun. During that period, 1,225 weapons were reported as stolen.

To combat the problem, the task force is focusing on the use of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network database to help track guns that are arriving in and leaving their cities, DeProw said.

The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network Program collects ballistics evaluations and is the only interstate automated ballistic imaging network in the United States that is available to most major population centers in the nation, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

SIGNS OF TROUBLE

The first signs of the gun-trafficking issue in northeast Arkansas go back to February 2017, when five boys under the age of 18 stole a Dodge truck, crashed it into the back of a pawnshop and stole approximately 60 weapons.

"It occurred to us during the course of investigating and prosecuting these cases it was very difficult to understand the level of organization to bring five teenagers together to commit an offense like that," DeProw said last week during a public forum in Jonesboro. "We started to develop the idea of what could five teenagers do with 50 handguns and other assorted weapons. We couldn't imagine or believe these folks had the resources and wherewithal to dispose of this type of contraband."

Over the next two years, the stolen weapons were recovered in places such as Chicago, St. Louis and Atlanta, DeProw said.

"So from that we developed this notion these young men were not alone," he said.

A series of violent events soon led northeast Arkansas officials to believe that gangs had made their way to the region, DeProw said.

"For several years, we started seeing correlations between names and actions, and we started putting two and two together and realized this gang problem is much bigger than what we thought it was," he said.

A hybrid gang known as "HustleFam" formed in Jonesboro when members of the Crips and the Vice Lords joined forces, said Kenneth Oldham, a lieutenant with Jonesboro Police Department and commander of the task force.

In 2001, the Homeland Security Digital Library documented the potential rise of the hybrid gang culture, where former rival groups merged under the notion of making money through illegal activities.

"We learned that you can have allegiances to these certain groups, but these guys all grew up together and personally knew each other. They were like family," DeProw said. "When they decide to come together, they formed these hybrid gangs."

Violence committed over a two-year span eventually culminated with a shooting at a downtown party venue in Jonesboro when a fight between members of HustleFam and another gang, the CM Boys, left one person dead and six wounded.

"Rival groups of people were attending the party, and in the course of that it became the second-worst mass shooting in the history of Jonesboro," DeProw said during the forum.

The downtown shooting opened the eyes of government officials.

"That was the first time we saw significant organized criminal activity here in Jonesboro," he said.

Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott said that over his 40 years in law enforcement he had encountered groups that referred to themselves as gangs, but it wasn't until recent years that violence became associated with the groups.

The name HustleFam was frequently mentioned in reports, and its members were involved in several armed robberies.

"Eventually they decided armed robbery wasn't enough, so they turned their activities to homicide," DeProw said. "They were implicated in at least three homicides in 2017 and 2018."

DeProw said the violence of HustleFam wasn't directed at specific criminal organizations, but at rival drug dealers.

The organization has essentially disbanded because a lot of the core members are now in prison and others have gone back to their original organizations, DeProw said, but their actions alerted law enforcement authorities to the criminal organizations.

TASK FORCE RESPONSE

Officials formed the task force after Jonesboro experienced two homicides by the third day of 2019. Oldham said the killings appeared to have been retaliatory shootings, similar to what authorities had seen before with criminal organizations.

The task force has identified at least eight criminal organizations operating throughout northeast Arkansas.

"We got Bloods, Crips, Vice Lords, [Gangster Disciples], and white supremacists," Oldham said. "We also have a couple of outlying motorcycle gangs in the area and some Insane Clown Posse group."

Members identify themselves clearly on social media, DeProw said.

"They use the same old gang signs and wear the same colors, but instead they put it on Facebook or other social media," he said. "Old traditions, but new ways."

Elliott said members of the organizations jump from city to city depending on the situation.

"We know people from other areas have brought their illegal activity with them," he said. "For example, someone might commit crimes in Blytheville, West Memphis or Osceola and then come and hide here from police or retaliation or vice versa. It made sense for all of us to come together and clear up some cases."

The Bloods and the Vice Lords are the most active groups currently in Jonesboro, with both groups having multiple sets, Oldham said.

"These organizations are, sadly, doing a good job of recruiting our school systems," Oldham said. "You can tell by the surge of juvenile crimes in our city. A majority of our armed robberies are committed by people under 18 years old."

DeProw said it's important for northeast Arkansas residents to be aware of what is going on throughout the area.

"There is a tendency for people to believe that gang violence is just urban violence," he said. "We've got to be proactive and address this issue. Gangs [are] not limited to certain economic groups.

"This is not just a poor people problem. This a problem for everyone."

State Desk on 10/14/2019

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