An indictment unsealed on Wednesday charged 20 members of the Houston-based “Free Money” street gang with federal crimes including racketeering conspiracy, murder and firearm and drug offenses.
The individuals allegedly “used violence and intimidation to control their territory and retaliated against rival gang members,” according to a Thursday Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said the gang “terrorized the streets of Houston with drive-by and calculated shootings, often in public places like grocery store parking lots, putting countless lives in danger.” Surveillance footage captured one incident in June 2022 where two defendants, Terry and Travonte Ardoin, followed a Chevrolet Equinox into the parking lot of a shopping center, later opening fire and killing a passenger.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Nicholas Ganjei said the “Free Money” gang “engaged in a campaign of robbery, drug trafficking, and armed violence to intimidate their rivals and terrorize the people of Houston. That ends now.”
Ganjei said the district’s message is “clear and unmistakable: if you’re thinking of engaging in violent, criminal conduct on a Houston street, think again. The Southern District has your number.”
According to the DOJ press release, members of the gang “hunted for rival gang members throughout Houston” and were “indiscriminate” in their attacks. At a meeting, several defendants allegedly vowed to “kill and do everything they needed to do” to rob a stash house. The press release stated that law enforcement was able to stop the robbery before the defendants arrived at the location.
“The sheer number of murders and shootings these individuals are suspected of freely carrying out for years, and the level of indiscriminate violence they’re accused of executing is alarming,” acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Hudson of the FBI’s Houston Field Office said. “Yesterday’s coordinated arrests across Houston are the result of years-long investigations by our FBI Houston team and our partners. We hope the residents of the Houston neighborhoods they terrorized can rest a little easier knowing that these individuals are free no more.”
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