Forty defendants – aged 21 to 62 – face a charge of 147 charges in what federal officials on Thursday called “the biggest federal extortion case in South Carolina’s history,” according to a report.
The charges brought by a grand federal jury against the defendants include murder, kidnapping, distribution of firearms and drug trafficking, reported Federal Attorney Peter McCoy’s office in Columbia, SC, FOX Carolina of Greenville, SC reported.
Prisoners often used contraband cell phones to order crimes from within state prisons on behalf of a gang called Insane Gangster Disciples, Assistant Attorney General Brian Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s criminal division said in a statement, according to the report.
CALIFORNIA INTOS MAY HAVE BILLED $ 400M WITH STATE UNEMPLOYMENT
Some defendants also ordered violent retaliation against those accused of being police informants, or of stealing drug prescriptions or owing money to the gang, officials said.
“It is alleged that these violent acts, including murder and kidnapping, were frequently carried out by IGD members outside of prisons,” officials said in a statement. “In addition, the 101-page indictment alleges that, to perpetuate the company and to maintain and extend its power, gang members and associates have committed, tried to commit and conspired to commit additional acts, such as armed robbery, extortion, arson , aggression and beatings, drug trafficking, money laundering and obstruction of justice ”.
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The case began in July 2017 as an investigation into methamphetamine trafficking and illegal arms sales. The investigators included officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Narcotics Enforcement Team at various Lexington County agencies; and the 11th Circuit Lawyer’s Office, FOX Carolina reported.