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Last week, nine reputed members of the gang were charged with racketeering, and 10 more people with buying heroin, cocaine, or Ketamine from them, during a joint investigation that became known as “Operation Icebox.”
Two gang members were killed during the five-month probe – one of them at 10th Avenue and 28th Street, the network’s drug-trafficking hub, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.
Akean Williams, 27, was found shot dead in the back seat of his Nissan Altima, parked outside a Carribean restaurant at the corner last November. Hours later, relatives of Williams's were victimized in a home invasion.
SEE: Authorities Suspect Gang Killed Victim In One Part Of Paterson, Robbed Relatives In Another
Another victim was wounded by a fellow gang member at the same spot during an internal disagreement, Grewal said.
"So Icy Boys" have been entrenched in the neighborhood for years.
In 2014, a 12-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet during an ongoing dispute involving gang members that began a year earlier, when a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed.
Besides racketeering and conspiracy, the purported gangsters named in last week's indictment were charged with various drug and weapons offenses.
Topping the list is Fabian Frater, 29, of Paterson, who authorities said controlled the day-to-day operations.
Then there’s 19-year-old city resident Shadeik Stratford, who’s charged with shooting a fellow gang member three times on Oct. 27.
Also charged was Nhazir Briggs-Smith, 20, of Elmwood Park.
The rest are from Paterson:
- Marshea Anthony, 23;
- Charles Jackson, 24;
- Bryant Nevers, 22;
- Jahvon Parker, 28;
- Michael Lawhorn, 28;
- Karon Nevers, 25.
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The law enforcement team participating in the operation was led by New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau and Paterson police, assisted by state police and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
Together, they “dismantled a narcotics network [that was] dealing large quantities of heroin in a violence-torn neighborhood,” Grewal said.
In doing so, authorities “stopped countless doses of heroin from reaching users across the region each week” and “made the city safer by reducing street-level drug dealing and the violence that invariably accompanies it.”
Deputy Attorney General Heather Hausleben presented the indictment to the state grand jury for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
The resulting indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson in Trenton, who assigned the case to Paterson, where the defendants will be ordered to appear in court for arraignment.
The lead DCJ detectives were Lt. Brian Bruton, Sgt. Patrick Sole and Detective Russell Kingsland. The lead Paterson detectives were Sgt. Robert Orozco, Detective Benny Ramos and Detective Angel Gonzalez.
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