27 Alleged South End Gang Members Face Gun, Drug Charges

More than two dozen alleged South End gang members are facing drug and weapons charges after a more than year-long investigation, the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts announced Thursday.

The charges are all related to the distribution and possession of drugs and firearms in the Lenox Street Housing Development in Boston's South End. Prosecutors say many of the suspects are affiliated with a gang known as the Lenox Street Cardinals.

According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz's office, 19 of the 27 suspects will be charged in federal court. Ten of those 19 suspects were arrested Thursday morning. The remaining eight will face state charges. No word on those arrests yet.

“Through their sale of weapons and drugs, these defendants bring violence, fear and intimidation to a community in the heart of this City,” Ortiz said in the statement. “Lenox Street’s residents, surrounded by illegal activity and the violence that accompanies it, are made to feel like prisoners in their own homes.”

Ortiz's office said the Lenox Street area was one of Boston's "top 10 hotspots for violence" last year, noting that there were 30 shootings in the area from March 2012 to June 2015.