Officials: 7 gang members face federal drug charges

Seven members of the Black Gangster Disciples street gang have been arrested on federal drug charges in a two year multi-agency operation.

Five residents of Pike County, a Lincoln County resident and a resident of Belvidere, Illinois, were taken into custody in the early morning hours on Wednesday, officials said.

Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director John Dowdy said those arrested were, "in fact, affiliated with the Black Gangster Disciples street gang."

The suspects were identified in a release from the FBI as follows:

• Donyale Jerrel Holloway, 36, of Lincoln County; charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana.
• Eugene Rodrigues Lewis, 35, of Pike County; charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
• Shawanda V. Matthews, 30, of Pike County; charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana.
• Samuel Cardell Reed, 30, of Pike County; charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
• Veronica Denise Thomas, 37, of Pike County; charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana.
• Gary Wayne Thompson, 33, of Pike County; charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
• Ennis Cheko Montgomery, 48, of Belvidere, Illinois; charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana.

Dowdy said crackdowns such as the ongoing operation are imperative to curbing violence in Mississippi.

"A vast majority of the violent crime and drug activity in the state is being generated by street gangs such as the Black Gangster Disciples," he said.

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Lewis, Reed and Thompson are charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine. Holloway, Matthews, Montgomery, Reed and Thomas are charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana.

All the suspects except Montgomery appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Anderson at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi and were ordered held without bond until a detention hearing next week.

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Marshall Fisher said law enforcement in Mississippi is cracking down on gang activity.

"We have gang issues in this state, and we’re trying to address it. We have gang issues all over this country and this is part of that as well. We want to try to help contain that. One of the ways the Department of Public Safety is going to do that is to continue to target gang operations, hopefully in concert with our federal partners," Fisher said. "In the past few years there seems to be a trend to move away from even admitting we have gang problems, I don't know why that is, but we’re committed to curbing this problem."

Wednesday's arrests come a little over a month after 14 alleged members of the Black Gangster Disciples and the Vice Lords were arrested in operations along the Coast, and another eight were arrested in an operation in Hattiesburg and Louisiana.

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Officials say in reality, gang crime is on the rise all over Mississippi and the rest of the country. A bill which just passed out of committee in the Mississippi Senate would add enhanced penalties to crimes committed by validated gang members.

These arrests are the result of a joint investigation into narcotics trafficking in south Mississippi by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force in Hattiesburg; the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics’ McComb District; the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation; Office of the Mississippi State Auditor; Marion County Sheriff’s Office; Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Hattiesburg Police Department. The U.S. Marshals Service; Mississippi Department of Corrections; Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks; McComb Police Department and Southwest Mississippi Narcotics Task Force assisted with the arrests.

The FBI Jackson Division’s Southeast Mississippi Safe Streets Task Force in Hattiesburg is made up of special agents from the FBI and law enforcement officers from the Office of the Mississippi State Auditor, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and Hattiesburg Police Department.