Thirteen people linked to the Inglewood Family street gang have been arrested and indicted on federal drugs and firearms charges, authorities said Wednesday.
Inglewood Mayor James Butts made the announcement at a joint news conference with the FBI and Inglewood police Chief Mark Fronterotta, just two months after declaring the arrest of 10 other individuals associated with another gang, the Osage Legend Crips.
The Osage Legend Crips allegedly cooked and packaged cocaine at an Inglewood shop disguised as a convenience store.
Like the Osage Legend Crips, the Inglewood Family gang also grew from a local street group to a national criminal enterprise, officials said. The latter has known cliques in New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, according to the FBI.
Members and associates were accused of participating in violent crimes while trafficking firearms and drugs, including powder and crack cocaine and methamphetamine.
Seven of them were arrested on Tuesday, most of them in or around Inglewood, said Paul Delacourt, assistant director of the FBI’s L.A. field office. Officials said they also seized weapons during one of those arrests.
One was detained on Monday and four others in 2017, Delacourt added. Another individual was in the process of being transferred from state custody to federal custody, the official said.
The FBI provided the following list of defendants and the charges they’re facing:
- Byron Sumlin, 45, of Gramercy Park in Los Angeles, was charged with unlawfully engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license.
- Jason Inge, aka “J-Rush,” 31, of Inglewood, was charged with cocaine distribution and aiding and abetting, as well as possession of firearms and ammunition as a felon. He was arrested in Atlanta on Tuesday, officials said.
- Terrence Hale, 51, of Gardena, was charged with cocaine and methamphetamine distribution and aiding and abetting.
- Ralph Adrian Williams, 33, of Long Beach, was charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition as a felon.
- Hafoka Netane, 33, of Hawthorne, was charged with cocaine distribution and aiding and abetting.
- Ronald Anthony Miller, 29, of Inglewood, was charged with cocaine distribution and aiding and abetting.
- Agyei Hasani Covington, 39, of Inglewood, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; distribution of methamphetamine, and aiding and abetting.
- Justin Jackson, 23, of Gardena, was charged with possession of a firearm as a felon.
- Charles Armstead, 37, of San Bernardino, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; distribution of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting.
- Victoria Sanders, 50, of Inglewood, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; distribution of controlled substances and aiding and abetting.
- Eddie Lee Jackson, aka “Coco,” 54, of Inglewood, was charged with distribution of cocaine base in the form of crack cocaine.
- Derick Butler, 31, of Inglewood, was charged with possession of firearms as a felon.
- Chad Jones, 28, of Inglewood, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; distribution of controlled substances and aiding and abetting.
A 14th individual, Dayquan Travion Ware, a 28-year-old L.A. resident, did not face federal charges but was detained for violating his probation, the FBI said.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Butts denied the recent arrest had anything to do with the construction of a new NFL stadium in the city.
The mayor said it’s the eighth consecutive year that Inglewood saw the lowest crime rates in its history, and that officials were merely continuing that trend. He added that criminal activities in the city have dropped 70 percent since they peaked in 1981.
“We’re putting every criminal gang member on notice, that these operations will continue until every one of you is either incarcerated or leaves the city of Inglewood,” Butts said.