Three federal investigations focused on the drug and gun pipeline in Arkansas came to a head Wednesday morning when 80 indictments were unsealed and 45 arrests were made, which included rapper Bankroll Freddie, whose real name is Freddie Gladney III. .
The 80 people wanted were indicted on various federal drug and firearms trafficking charges.
Two of the three investigations were conducted by the FBI and focused on rival gangs.
One FBI investigation focused on the Every Body Killas, or EBK, gang, resulting in 35 indictments, and the other focused on the Loady Murder Mobb gang, resulting in 26 indictments.
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Rapper Bankroll Freddie attends the first party of the year at the Gold Room on January 1, 2022 in Atlanta.
(Prince Williams/Wire Image)
Three other defendants were charged in separate indictments, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The third investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, which began in August 2021 after the agency and the North Little Rock Police Department identified street methamphetamine and fentanyl dealers in central Arkansas, who they were connected to the same supply source as rival gangs.
The DEA investigation found that the drugs were being mailed from California to Arkansas in shipments that included kilogram quantities of methamphetamine and thousands of pressed fentanyl pills, according to the news release. The drugs were then distributed to people in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, as well as Houston, Texas.
Eighteen people were charged as a result of the DEA investigation.
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Rapper Bankroll Freddie attends his birthday party at Onyx Nightclub on April 7, 2021 in Atlanta.
(Prince Williams/Wire Image)
Gladney was listed as a defendant in the indictment which was a result of the FBI targeting the EBK gang, as was his father Freddie Gladney, Jr.
According to the indictment, Freddie Gladney III and the 34 other individuals allegedly knowingly and intentionally distributed and possessed cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.
Gladney and her father were charged with possessing between 500 grams and 5 kilograms of cocaine, between 28 and 280 grams of crack cocaine and between 100 kilograms and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, the indictment states.
The indictment charges Gladney with selling marijuana, possessing multiple firearms, including 9mm pistols, an AM15 multi-caliber rifle, a 5.56 NATO caliber rifle and an SKS rifle.
He is also charged in the indictment with purchasing such weapons from a licensed firearms dealer and making false statements during purchases, possessing one or more machine guns, and possessing multiple weapons without serial numbers, among other things.
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Rapper Bankroll Freddie attends his birthday party at Onyx Nightclub on April 7, 2021 in Atlanta.
(Prince Williams/Wire Image)
Investigations into the rival gangs and their involvement in the drug and firearms pipeline in Arkansas gained momentum in October 2020 after Pine Bluff Police Detective Kevin Collins was shot and killed while serving a warrant. arrest of an EBK member wanted for murder in Georgia.
The press release said that Collins was assisting the FBI with intelligence related to criminal gang activity, as well as surveillance, interviews and arrests of individuals involved in criminal activity in Pine Bluff.
Between March 2021 and June 2022, the FBI used 12 wiretaps to obtain real-time intelligence and intervene to prevent violence in Pine Bluff, Little Rock, and other communities across the state.
“Police discovered that the gangs were financing their violent activity primarily through the sale of large quantities of high-grade marijuana,” the statement said. “The investigation revealed drug trafficking and travel between Arkansas and Texas, California, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma.”
Of the 80 accused on Wednesday, eight were in custody before the raid began.
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An FBI seal is seen on a wall on August 10, 2022 in Omaha, Nebraska.
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
Authorities also seized four firearms, including an AR-style pistol, 2 ounces of cocaine, 1 ounce of crack cocaine and $30,000 on Wednesday morning.
Twenty-seven fugitives are still not in custody, as of Wednesday morning, and those who were arrested were scheduled to appear before US Magistrate Judge Joe. J. Volpe later.
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Agencies that helped the FBI run its operations included the Arkansas State Police, Arkansas Department of Community Corrections, Little Rock Police Department, North Little Rock Police Department, Pine Bluff Police Department, and the Jonesboro Police Department.
The DEA office in Little Rock was assisted by the DEA office in Riverside, California, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the North Little Rock Police Department, the Sherwood Police Department, and the Department of Benton Police.
