Takedown’s a gut punch to gang
The sweeping takedown of the Latin Kings leadership on Thursday could deal a significant blow to the violent gang’s operations in Massachusetts and improve safety in cities like New Bedford where the organization has thrived, experts say.
Nearly 60 members of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation are facing federal charges after sweeps netted gang leaders including Michael Cecchetelli, the alleged regional overseer of East Coast operations.
“Having the feds come in and do this sweep is so significant because it’s getting a ton of these known, violent gang members off of our streets,” said New Bedford Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro. “The decent people in our society don’t get a lot of relief. This will bring them relief.”
Authorities have gone after the Latin Kings before, with operations in 2004 and 2005 that led to arrests in Lawrence and western Massachusetts. But U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said Thursday’s arrests are “a big hit precisely because we were able to take out nearly all of the leadership.”
“It’s extremely difficult for the gang to regroup in this region anytime soon,” Lelling said. “It puts us a step ahead of them regionally for once.”
The Latin Kings adhere to a “strict hierarchy” with a “national manifesto, internal judicial methods” and sophisticated communications that makes them “a formidable threat,” a federal affidavit says. Peter Levitt, a former Massachusetts assistant U.S. attorney and organized crime and gang unit chief, said the gang’s organization “gives them the ability to accomplish their criminal objectives, sell drugs and engage in violence in a way that the disorganized groups can’t.”
But Levitt said, “When you wipe out the leadership and then take out a really significant element of the sort of soldiers, it really wipes them out.”
The Latin Kings are known to sell cocaine, fentanyl and heroin. Among 11 active Latin Kings chapters in Massachusetts, New Bedford was singled out in the affidavit for its “extremely well-organized and violent” organization that ran a “coordinated drug conspiracy” involving cocaine.
David Kennedy, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College, said taking out the Latin Kings’ regional leadership “could actually make a substantial difference.” But he said it could also spark “competition to fill that void” both within and outside of the gang.
But Cordeiro, the New Bedford chief, cautioned that while Thursday’s sweep will be a “significant hit” to the Latin Kings, it won’t wipe them off the map.
“This is a national gang,” he said. “They routinely move people from area to area.”