By Ashanti Lee Seabron
(DETROIT) After 40 people were charged in a 172-page racketeering indictment in a Detroit federal court Thursday, four men are still at large in connection with the Vice Lords gang with ties to Detroit and Chicago, WXYZ Detroit reports.
The massive indictment carries a total of 39 counts against 40 alleged Vice Lords members that include racketeering, drug and conspiracy gun charges.
The four fugitive men, Anthony Reynolds, John Johnson, Aaron Knight and Lasail Hamilton, are considered armed and dangerous.
In a news conference Thursday, Acting United States Attorney Saima Mohsin talked about the indictment and the message that it is designed to send to violent gangs.
“By working together, our law enforcement partners are dismantling violent street gangs that cause havoc in our neighborhoods,” Mohsin said, according to WXYZ. “As we welcome the start of summer we want to send a message to gangs and violent offenders that law enforcement is committed to taking back our streets from violent gangs so that Detroit residents can enjoy the safe quality of life that we all deserve.”
Jim Deir, ATF Detroit Special Agent in Charge, also spoke at Thursday's news conference and expressed the federal government's lack of tolerance for gangs.
“Today was pretty much a reckoning,” Deir said, according to Click On Detroit. “And the reckoning is the city of Detroit has had enough and the federal government has had enough.”
The Almighty Vice Lord Nation gang was founded in Chicago in the 1960s.
The Detroit ATF urges anyone with information regarding the mens' whereabouts to contact them.
