Overview

• A task force led by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Queens District Attorney’s Office arrested eight alleged members of the 18th Street gang on July 10.
• Prosecutors say the suspects face charges of racketeering, extortion, drug and firearms trafficking, document fraud and violent assaults documented between 2021 and 2024.
• Seven of the eight arrested individuals are undocumented, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson, intensifying local debates over immigration enforcement policies.
• The latest bust follows Operation Restore Roosevelt in October, which deployed 200 officers to cut crime by nearly 30%, and builds on a June indictment of the gang’s “54 Tiny Locos” faction.
• Grace Meng and Queens DA Melinda Katz praised the arrests as a pivotal step for public safety, while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office declined to comment on the federal intervention.