Forty-six arrests and the seizure of powder and crack cocaine, heroin, and 30 guns concluded a three-year investigation of a Jacksonville gang, known as the Rolling 20's.
“We have dismantled an entire criminal organization,” State Attorney Melissa Nelson said. “Jacksonville is safer because of it. And I know lives are spared because of it."
She said her office assembled a group of her best prosecutors from the Targeted Prosecution Unit to help JSO address the “disruptive” violent gang.
On Friday, Nelson joined Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, Mayor Lenny Curry, and federal law enforcement agents in announcing the result of the investigation.
Twenty-two of those arrested in Jacksonville were gang members, and some have already been convicted, according to Sheriff Williams. He said the arrests included key members, which led to internal power struggles and “a vacuum of power.” Warrants are out for five others on charges resulting from the investigation.
Williams said the Rolling 20s is a subset of a national street gang called the Bloods, which is involved in violent crimes like murder, robbery, arson and drug trafficking.
“Throughout the investigation, it became clear that the Rolling 20s gang was more organized than the neighborhood-based, street-culture, rap-associated type gang that we typically see here in Jacksonville. In fact, the Rolling 20's branches outside of Jacksonville and other cities and states,” William said.
Williams said JSO’s Violent Crime Impact Team unraveled gang ties and the hierarchy of gang members as police took a more in-depth look into the homicide of Michael Wright in April of 2016. Wright was a witness in the unrelated shooting trial of Quintae Hudson, who turned out to be a Rolling 20's member.
Police are still looking for five suspects related to the investigation. Anyone with information can contact JSO or First Coast Crime Stoppers at 866-845-8477 (TIPS).
