SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico β 53 members of Las Farc Playita criminal organization were charged with drug trafficking and firearms violations following an ICE Homeland Security Investigations-led operation with federal, state and local partners.
28 high-risk targeted suspects were arrested β including one in Tampa and one in Philadelphia β by 28 specialized tactical teams.
The dangerous drug trafficking gang is linked to more than 50 murders and has extended its Puerto Rico-based operations as far as Alaska.
The gang allegedly sold wholesale and street quantities of heroin, cocaine base (commonly known as βcrackβ), cocaine, marijuana, fentanyl, Oxycodone (commonly known as Percocet), and Alprazolam (commonly known as Xanax) near three public housing projects it blockaded with traffic barrels.
Las Farc Playita allegedly maintained control of all drug trafficking within the areas using force, threats, violence, and intimidation. This included providing armed escorts to protect high-ranking members from law enforcement and enemy gang members, oftentimes using high powered rifles.
"Three of the accused, without any shame, produced music videos, where they boasted of their methods of territ
orial control, whose lyrics specifically speak of threats, torture and deaths for those who challenge the entrance to the points (blocked) by orange barrels, which warned law and order agencies in that area and anyone who betrayed βthe family,ββ said ICE San Juan Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos.
More than 600 law enforcement officers worked together to dismantle the criminal organization.