Security News in Brief: Individuals Previously Convicted of Violent Crimes and Gun Offenses Among Seventeen Charged in Operation Rhode Runner

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – More than a dozen individuals previously convicted on violent crime charges, including firearm, robbery, assault, assault with intent to commit murder, and domestic violence charges, are among seventeen individuals charged in federal court as the result of a five-month FBI Safe Street Task Force, DEA, and Providence Police Narcotics Bureau Project Safe Neighborhoods investigation into a wide-ranging street-level drug trafficking conspiracy. At least nine of the individuals are currently on Rhode Island state probation.

Security News in Brief: Members and Associates of El Grupo De Los 27 Prison Gang Indicted For Violating The Rico Act In Puerto Rico

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A federal indictment was unsealed today in the District of Puerto Rico charging twenty-nine defendants with racketeering—drug trafficking, money laundering, bribery, extortion, wire fraud, and murder—and firearms trafficking committed in furtherance of one of the oldest criminal enterprises in Puerto Rico, El Grupo de los 27, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. Since 1980, El Grupo de los 27, also known as Los 27, has engaged in criminal activity within and outside the prison system of the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (PR DOC) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). On June 27, 1980, Luis Pinela-Pizarro, aka “Shino Pinela/Tio/Pai/El Viejo” and others founded Los 27. The enterprise’s primary purpose was to take control of the prisons to make money.

Security News in Brief: Annapolis Ms-13 Member Sentenced To 35 Years in Federal Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy, Discharging a Firearm Related to a Murder, and Two Attempted Murders

Source: United States Department of Justice News

U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Moises Alexis Reyes-Canales, a/k/a “Sicopita”, age 23, of Annapolis, to 35 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and to using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, in connection with his MS-13 gang activities, including a murder and two attempted murders.

Security News in Brief: Texas Wedding Planner Sentenced in COVID-19 Fraud Scheme

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Texas man was sentenced today in the Eastern District of Texas to 31 months in prison and three years of supervised release for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $3.3 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.