Federal authorities say an overnight roundup in Atlantic City significantly disrupted the operations of a violent street gang responsible for drug trafficking and shootings in the resort.
NBC10 was the only media outlet there when the FBI, Atlantic City Police, New Jersey State Police and other law enforcement agencies stormed numerous locations throughout the city. They arrested at least two dozen men and women on charges of conspiracy to distribute heroin. Investigators say the suspects are members and associates of a criminal street gang known as Dirty Block.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, District of New Jersey, is scheduled to officially announce the “major takedown” at a noon news conference in Camden, along with other federal, county, and local members of law enforcement, according to a news release.
Sources tell NBC10’s Jersey Shore Bureau the arrests were the result of an investigation that began in the summer of 2010, when Atlantic City was hit with a huge increase in gun violence. According to sources, Dirty Block was responsible for a high number of shootings that summer and in subsequent years.
Sources also tell NBC10 that brothers Malik and Mykal Derry, already jailed and charged with murdering a man outside an Adriatic Avenue restaurant on February 10th, are linked to Dirty Block as well.
