U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be in Charlotte Tuesday to make an announcement on the Trump administration’s strategies to fight violent crime.
Specifics were not released Monday by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, which will host Sessions at its office.
The announcement, to be made 10 a.m. Tuesday, comes just months after federal officials conducted the state’s largest ever crackdown on violent street gangs, an effort that is in line with Sessions’ priorities.
The crackdown included arrests in Charlotte and four states, with a focus on members of the United Blood Nation. More than 80 were arrested and charged with a vast conspiracy of murders, assaults and other violent crimes. All were believed to be part of a UBN wing known as “Nine Trey Gangsters.”
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A sweeping 162-page indictment outlined the criminal network, connecting a web of seemingly unrelated crimes across the Charlotte region that go back at least to 2010. The crimes include multiple murders, racketeering, firearms trafficking, robbery and bank fraud. Gang members are tied to at least six killings and multiple shootings.
In North Carolina, the reach of the gang extends from small cities such as Concord and Shelby to the college mecca of Chapel Hill. UBN remains a powerful force in many of the state prisons. In one example from 2016, UBN members smuggled cellphones, narcotics, marijuana and razor blades into the Pasquotank Correctional Institution in Elizabeth City, authorities say.
Mark Price: 704-358-5245, @markprice_obs
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