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Feds Indict Dozens Of Bloods Gang Members Operating In Md.

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Federal authorities announce the take down of a major offshoot of the Bloods gang operating right here in Maryland. Dozens of suspected gang members have been indicted, some arrested and others are already behind bars.

Derek Valcourt has more on the gang and their criminal reach.

From Western Maryland all the way over to the Eastern Shore, police say these gang members were organized and violent.

A 71-page criminal indictment details the allegations against members of the South Side Brims Gang, an offshoot of the notorious Bloods gang.

In all, 35 Maryland gang members are accused of crimes like murder, robberies, assaults, drug trafficking and witness intimidation.

"Suffice to say we don't know how many crimes won't be committed because these people are going to be behind bars for a long time," said Sheriff Chuck Jenkins of Frederick County.

Their organized crime reached into four Maryland cities-- from Cumberland to Frederick to Baltimore out to Salisbury-- with factions of their gang in numerous Maryland counties.

The South Side Brims operate not only in Maryland, but up and down the East Coast, with local gang leaders reporting to their higher-ups in California.

"One of the things that you see from this operation is that crime doesn't know any boundaries," Deputy Chief Ivan Barkley of the Salisbury Police Department said. "It's all over the place. It's moving back and forth."

Authorities say their big break in the case came when Frederick law enforcement discovered a three-page roster of gang members, including their nicknames, their rank and their phone numbers left behind in a motel room.

The alleged ringmaster at the top of the gang's food chain was Andre Roach, nicknamed Redrum-- murder spelled backwards.

And murder is exactly why Roach is serving 50 years in a Cumberland prison, where he was still running the gang's activities from behind bars.

According to U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, "We need to make sure they are sent out of the state to federal prison, because when we leave them in local prisons here in Maryland, they are able to continue to influence fellow gang members."

Police have arrested nine of the indicted gang members, 11 were already in jail on other charges and summons have been issued for 12 others.

Sixteen of the 35 gang members were based out of Frederick.

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