[JustTheNews] Thirty-three members of violent gangs were arrested as part of a multi-agency operation targeting transnational and organized crime in the border town of Uvalde, Texas, and surrounding area in Uvalde County.
“Gang violence has no place here in Texas, we will bring the full force of justice down on these famous criminals,” Gov. Greg Abbott said when directing Texas Department of Public Safety to surge resources there to root out organized crime in September 2022.
Nearly two years ago, a multi-agency operation began, made possible through additional state funding and criminal investigative oversight from DPS targeting an extensive organized crime network operating at the Texas-Mexico border. The investigation focused on the selling and distribution of narcotics, weapons, extortion, aggravated assaults and organized criminal activity of multiple gangs associated with transnational criminal organizations, including Mexican cartels.
DPS deployed special agents to target gang activity in the Uvalde area with a priority of focusing on Tango affiliated gangs and the Latin King gang, which are classified by DPS as Tier 1 and Tier 2 gangs, respectively.
After an extensive investigation, 33 gang members were arrested, including from the Latin Kings, West Texas Tango, Tango Blast, Tango Orejon, Tango Aguilon, Texas Syndicate, Paisa, Texas Mexican Mafia, Maniac Latin Disciples, and San Antonio Walked Down Gang, according to a statement from the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office.
So this could be just the 'hook', 'runner' and 'bank' teams from 10 different blocks. No remarks about quantities seized or big names, or date of arrests.
The 38th Judicial District handed down 68 state indictments related to narcotics trafficking and engaging in organized criminal activity. The U.S. Western District, Del Rio Division, handed 17 federal indictments related to racketeering and conspiracy.
Texas DPS criminal investigators have identified gang activity “as a growing and serious problem in Uvalde and the surrounding area.”
Joining them in the investigation were investigators with the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office, Uvalde Police Department, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations. The 38th District Attorney’s Border Prosecution Unit and the U.S. Attorney’s office are prosecuting the case.
The investigation targeted the Uvalde area nearly 10 years after a joint operation in 2015 vanquished major gang operations there resulting in the Latin Kings being disbanded, the sheriff’s office said. Since that time, gang activity increased with the “most recent gang activity involve[ing] some of the children of those former incarcerated gang members.”
The investigation was a collaborative effort “to identify and combat violent crime from the southern border of the United States,” the sheriff said.
“We will not tolerate this criminal activity in our community,” District Attorney Christina Mitchell said. “We will uncover anyone who participates, collaborates or permits this cancer in our town.”
She also said she anticipated more indictments and arrests coming from the investigation.
The indictments and arrests were issued after 33 Latin King members and associates were convicted in October 2020 on federal racketeering charges.
Formally known as the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, the Latin King gang has tens of thousands of members operating in chapters in different states, law enforcement officials have explained to The Center Square. In 2020, 33 members of the Austin, San Antonio and Uvalde chapters of the Latin King’s Central Region of Texas, were sentenced to between 45 and 288 months in federal prison. They were convicted for their role in operating a criminal enterprise in Central Texas for ten years beginning in 2005, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas. 
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