LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) — Nearly 50 people have been charged with federal gun and drug trafficking crimes from the Little Rock area.
Overnight, hundreds of local, state and federal officers with GET Rock, a violence reduction task force assembled after the Power Ultra Lounge Shooting, worked to track down the suspects.
The arrests were announced at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Twenty-one illegally possessed guns, nearly 10 pounds of cocaine, 4 ounces of meth, more than 7 ounces of crack, 5 grams of heroin, 293 ecstasy pills and 93 pint bottles of cough syrup. Those are just some of the illegal materials that law enforcement seized early Thursday morning.
Forty-nine people were arrested. Nine are still fugitives.
Many of them are members, and some even founders, of the city's most dominant gangs, who the feds said played a role in the Power Ultra Lounge shooting.
Gang violence, they told us, was a root cause of the shooting at the nightclub, and retaliation shootings that followed.
Members of the Real Hustlers Incorporated gang are alleged to have been operating out of a home on 31st Street, using it as a distribution point for heroin, cocaine and other drugs. One of them, Bilal Johns Muhammad, is reported to be Darren McFadden's half-brother.
In August, Winnie Wright interviewed alleged former gang member, Chris Alexander, after his 14-year-old son was murdered. According to federal agents, Alexander was a member of the Wolfe Street Crips, the RHI rival gang. He's charged with conspiracy, distribution and possession charges.
Their arrests, officials said, will make a huge dent in crime in central Arkansas.
"Crime is going to happen," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Cody Hiland said. "I can't control whether someone commits a crime against somebody else. But I can control what my response is.
"One of the things we are committed to doing is to make sure we are there to respond, that we are there to meet the challenge that criminals give us. We are going to do it in an overwhelming way. We're not going to talk a lot about it. Not going to be a lot of marching. We are going to march right over to that courtroom and we are going to try some cases."
Because gang violence isn't limited to south of the river, six county prosecutors will act as Special Assistants to the United State's Attorney and be given authority to prosecute in federal court.
Agents also seized approximately $50,000 in drug proceeds, four cars and a motorcycle.
Hiland said the benefit of federally prosecuted for violent crimes involving guns and drugs, is that there's no early release and no parole. Ten years means 10 years behind bars.
This year alone, they've already put together 70 felon-in-possession cases.
Below is a list of all of the defendants in this investigation:
Clifton Lamon Thomas, aka “Bliff”, 41, Bryant, Ark.
Dewquan Marquis Johns, aka “Bread”, 40, Little Rock, Ark.
Marvin Kentral Collins, aka “Tral Wayz”, 37, Little Rock, Ark.
Bilal Johns Muhammad, aka “Feezio”, 40, Little Rock, Ark. (Alleged half-brother of Darren McFadden)
Marchelio Atwon Robinson, aka “Big Juice”, 36, Little Rock, Ark.
Kyle Keith Robinson aka “T.S.”, 34, Little Rock, Ark.
Shadeed Omar Dawkins, 28, Little Rock, Ark.
Dennis Ramon Camp, 44 Little Rock, Ark.
James Ruben Langford, 28, Little Rock, Ark.
Donald Lee Young, 33, Little Rock, Ark.
Bilal Sean Muhammad, aka “Lil Feezi” aka “Redd”, 21, Little Rock, Ark.
Damien Markee Young, aka “D-Mac” aka “Shooter”, 35, Little Rock, Ark.
Ken Curtis Keys, 40, Little Rock, Ark.
Robert Carroll Turpin III, 34, Little Rock, Ark.
Zachary Charles Jordan, 44, Little Rock, Ark.
Sergio Andres Gonzales, 27, Forrest City, Ark.
Abraham Martin Ramirez-Garcia, 44, Forrest City, Ark.
Felipe de Jesus Heredia-Veloz, age unknown, Forrest City, Ark.
Eric Deshawn Fears, 25, North Little Rock, Ark.
Zachary Robert Smith, 32, Little Rock, Ark.
Brooks Hayden Jones, 26, Little Rock, Ark.
Donovan Sherard Whittington, 24, Little Rock, Ark.
Byron Davis Warrington, 42, Little Rock, Ark.
Roger Steve Arrue, 28, Little Rock, Ark.
Dustin Wayne McCarty, 37, Crockets Bluff, Ark.
Antonio Sanchez Fuentes, 33, Little Rock, Ark.
Demetric Issac Williams, 27, Little Rock, Ark.
Latoya D. Carbage, 32, Little Rock, Ark.
Lisa Ann Welton, 49, Little Rock, Ark.
Tracie Lynn Brown, 43, Benton, Ark.
William David Allen, 35, Roland, Ark.