About 400 officers from just about every law-enforcement agency in the area swooped down on members of a violent drug gang Monday, arresting more than 40 people. Others were still on the run.
The sweep was the largest operation of its kind in the collective memory of 14 high-ranking law-enforcement officers who held a news conference announcing the arrests that capped a two-year investigation.
Asked if the raid put the dangerous GKI – Gallant Knights Insane – gang out of business, U.S. Attorney Bill Leone said, “It’s a good start.”
The army of agents, police officers and deputy sheriffs raided 55 residences and vehicles in Denver, Lakewood, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Littleton, Englewood, Northglenn, Brighton, Westminster and Aurora.
They confiscated a “substantial amount” of illegal drugs, said Lt. Jim Welton, head of the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force.
The drugs seized included marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine and Ecstasy. Also taken were cash, securities and numerous weapons.
Leone said 22 gang members have been indicted by a federal grand jury on drug and gun charges, another 13 face similar charges on direct filings by his office and 20 were arrested or face arrest on state charges.
He said 31 of those facing federal charges were arrested in the Monday roundup, and Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said a dozen of the 20 wanted in Denver were arrested.
Those indicted face charges that bring sentences of 10 years to life upon conviction.
The Aug. 2 federal indictment was unsealed Monday, and the law-enforcement army went to work about 5:30 a.m. By 2:30 p.m., they had arrested 43 of the 55 gang members they were looking for.
“This is an important collaboration that could make the metro area safer,” Morrissey said.
The GKI gang – formerly known as the Gangsters Killing Incas, referring to another street gang – got started in the middle 1980s on Denver’s west side, according to Morrissey. They grew in numbers, engaging in car thefts and drugs.
“They became more and more violent,” Morrissey said.
It was the increasing violence that prompted the joint investigation just over two years ago, said Deputy Denver Police Chief Mike Battista.
Now, Battista says, “We’re looking for our next target – which gang is using violence and intimidation.”
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
