DeKalb Men Arrested As Members of Gangster Disciples Street Gang

DECATUR, GA -- Federal authorities have arrested dozens of people in nine states, including men in Decatur and Stone Mountain, saying they are members and associates of the national Gangster Disciples street gang.

In all, 32 people face racketeering charges for being affiliated with the gang, U.S. Attorney John Horn announced Wednesday.

Locally, they include:

• Vancito Gumbs, 25, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, who federal authorities say was a member of the Gangster Disciples while at the same time serving as a police officer with the DeKalb County Police Department
• Kevin Clayton, 43, of Decatur, who authorities say was the Disciples' chief enforcer for the state of Georgia
• Donald Glass, 26, of Decatur, who is accused of serving as a first coordinator of the eastside group of the Gangster Disciples
• Perry Green, 29, of Decatur, charged with being a member of the Gangster Disciples and acting as an enforcer for the group

In addition to racketeering, Glass is charged with murder in aid of racketeering and using a firearm during that murder.

"These charges show how a national gang like Gangster Disciples can wreak havoc here and in communities across the country, with crimes that run the gamut from murder to drug trafficking to credit card fraud," U.S. Attorney John Horn said in a news release.

The arrests were based on an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on April 27, 2016, Horn said.

Other arrests were made by a similar indictment returned in Memphis, Tennessee.

Federal authorities say the indictments targeted top leaders within the Gangster Disciples. In Georgia, the majority of the organization's leaders lived in Atlanta, but crimes the group committed spread all over the state, the news release said.

"Today’s Gangster Disciple arrests across nine states merely marks the first wave of the FBI’s strategic campaign to dismantle this violent criminal organization," J. Britt Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta field office, said.

"The Gangster Disciples are a highly-organized and ruthless gang that recognizes no geographical boundaries, and its members have far too long indiscriminately preyed upon and infected the good people of our communities like a cancer."

According to Horn, and the charges in the indictment, the defendants, beginning in 2009, committed murder, attempted murder, robbery, extortion, arson, firearm crimes, drug trafficking, wire fraud, bank fraud, credit card fraud, prostitution and obstruction of justice and other crimes.

Specifically, the indictment charges that Gangster Disciples members committed 10 murders, 12 attempted murders, two robberies and the extortion of rap artists to force the artists to become affiliated with the Gangster Disciples.

It also charges them with fraud, resulting in losses of more than $450,000, and trafficking of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, illegal prescription drugs, and marijuana. The indictment seeks forfeiture of 34 different firearms seized as part of the investigation.

The case is being investigated by a host of federal, state and local authorities, including FBI Atlanta's Safe Streets Gang Task Force, which includes members from the DeKalb County Police Department.