More than 100 people charged in sweeping Georgia gang investigation

SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. — More than 100 people have been charged with participating in gang activity in a multi-agency investigation out of Spalding County.

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A multi-agency gang task force investigation in Georgia has identified 110 suspected gang members and arrested more than half of them.

Operations Bloodclot and Krack the Ice resulted in the arrests of several members of the Ghostface Gangsters, the Gangster Disciples and the Zoo Krew Gang, among others.

Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin was in Spalding County Thursday, where the sheriff announced the arrests of close to 70 alleged gang members. Around 50 more people are still wanted.

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Spalding County Sheriff Daryl Dix said these are real gang members, not men and kids playing at being in gangs. Dix said gang members are recruiting young kids with shopping trips and free guns.

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Charges against the defendants include violations of the Georgia Criminal Street Gang and Terrorism Act, as well as violations of Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act.

According to the GBI, Ghostface Gangster Chad Ashley Allen, who is serving a life sentence for murder in Tattnall County was operating a drug trafficking enterprise with Mexican cartels and members of several other gangs from inside the prison.

“The organization spans from Mexico and throughout Georgia, distributing methamphetamine, alprazolam, fentanyl, and heroin, in coordination with criminal street gang members and associates in and outside of prison,” GBI officials said. “This is organized crime operating at the highest level.”

Officials said Allen sourced illegal drugs from Mexico and then recruited street-level distributors to fulfill requests for enormous amounts of drugs. Then people both inside and outside of the jail used smuggled cell phones to coordinate payments and then laundered money through mobile banking apps.

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