More than 40 members and associates of the Heath Street Gang, which operates out of the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments in Jamaica Plain, were charged on Valentine’s Day in federal court with racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, firearms, wire fraud, financial frauds, including COVID fraud.
The charges were based from a two-year investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The U.S. Attorney’s office provided a historical view of the Heath Street Gang that was formed in the 1980s, and how the gang recruits youth living in the Hailey Apartments, and what one needs to do to get into the gang:
It is alleged that the Heath Street Gang commonly recruits juveniles living in the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments to join the Gang and participate in crimes on the Gang’s behalf, including shootings. It is further alleged that members of the Heath Street Gang require younger prospective members/associates to commit acts of violence as an act of initiation and often reward the juveniles with appearances in Heath Street Gang songs or music videos, which are used to publicly assert and affirm Gang membership/association, brag about acts of violence they have committed and denigrate and threaten rival gangs. On numerous occasions, members/associates of the Heath Street Gang have allegedly brazenly assaulted local law enforcement officers while engaged in official duties.
Heath Street members and associates allegedly use social media platforms to help sell, advertise and negotiate drugs including fentanyl, cocaine, and marijuana.
The investigation included that since at least approximately 2019, the Heath Street Gang has “allegedly openly and brazenly stolen merchandise from various stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.” Federal charges also allege that members and associates of the Heath Street Gang have engaged in widespread CARES Act loan and unemployment fraud.
Gang members and associates were listed as living in numerous locations including, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Robury, Arlington, Charlestown, Hyde Park, West Roxbury, Billerica, Randolph, Rhode Island, Maine, and other locations.
Read the full U.S. Attorney’s release here including people who were charged crimes.
