WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Twenty members and associates of the street and prison gang Mad Stone Bloods have been indicted by a court in the US state of Virginia, the Department of Justice said in a news release on Friday.
"Twenty members and associates of the Mad Stone Bloods (MSB) street and prison gang were charged in an indictment and other court documents unsealed today following the arrest of the majority of the defendants," the release stated.
The indictment charges 13 defendants with violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and other related offences, the release stated.
According to court documents, the MSB gang operates in the states of Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Maryland, the release noted.
The gang engages in such criminal offences as narcotics trafficking, wire and mail fraud and murder, the release added.
The indictment alleges that the 20 defendants committed armed robberies, narcotics trafficking, interstate firearms trafficking and fraud.
Three of the defendants were employees at the Virginia Department of Corrections and allegedly conspired to smuggle controlled substances into prison facilities and deliver the drugs to other MSB gang members for use and distribution within the Virginia prisons, according to the release.
