WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — An 18-month investigation has resulted in the arrests of 18 suspects tied to a reputed West Palm Beach street gang.
West Palm Beach Police Chief Frank Adderley, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg and representatives from other county, state and federal law enforcement agencies announced the Feb. 6 arrests as part of "Operation Goodfellas" during a Tuesday afternoon news conference at the West Palm Beach Police Department.
The charges range from racketeering and weapons violations to attempted murder. A 19th suspect was still at-large.
Aronberg said the arrests "cripples the 4th Street Gang."
Among those arrested was a 16-year-old suspect accused of shooting a child in the face. Aronberg said the teenager was being charged as an adult.
"What they would do is they would recruit people who had clean records so that they could buy guns for them and then they would sit in the alleyways in broad daylight to protect the drug trafficking business with their firearms," Aronberg said.
Assistant State Attorney Diva O'Bryan said there were "several different types of drugs" being trafficked.
"We've had cocaine. We've had Xanax. We've had oxycodone," O'Bryan said. "We found MDMA, PCP, as well as marijuana and some fentanyl."
As for the at-large suspect, O'Bryan said investigators have "some indication of where that suspect is located."
According to a West Palm Beach police probable cause affidavit, Avens Lemieux was among those arrested.
The affidavit references the "4th Street Gang" as an organized criminal enterprise operating mostly within the city of West Palm Beach.
It claims the gang, which had been involved in criminal activity since the 1990s, dissolved after the 2015 death of its leader, but three separate homicides from 2015 to 2017 led to its reformation.
According to the affidavit, the gang, whose main area of operation is in an alleyway between Third and Fourth streets adjacent to Tamarind and Douglass avenues, "primarily conducts various kinds of narcotic sales" in the alleyway and uses the location "to maintain clout with rival gangs by brandishing and displaying firearms" in the open.
Police said members and associates of the group "post videos, bulletins and music videos involving their criminal escapades" on social media showing their allegiance "through the display of hand signs, tattoos and the music label Entrepreneur Entertainment."