Police crack down on warring Northeast drug gangs in an effort to quell violence in the District

D.C. prosecutors said they’re driving down violence in the District by taking down warring gangs in quick succession, with the Thursday arrest of nine suspected drug traffickers in Northeast coming just over a week after 15 members of a nearby rival crew were taken into custody.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said the nine suspects arrested Thursday morning in the Trinidad neighborhood during a joint operation between federal agents and Metropolitan Police were either directly involved in or had ties to dealing fentanyl, crack cocaine and heroin.

That trade put them at odds with members of a rival crew in the Carver Langston neighborhood just a few blocks east, the U.S. attorney said. Law enforcement teams arrested 15 people in a May 15 sweep of that neighborhood.

Ten of those arrested last week are facing federal drug and weapons charges, while five arrested in Thursday morning’s operation will go before a federal judge.

Mr. Graves said the Trinidad crew ran an open-air drug market in the 1100 block of Raum Street Northeast. Between January and July 2023, prosecutors said, the area around the drug market recorded 59 violent crimes and 119 bursts of gunfire.

“Violence between these warring crews is magnified by the prevalence of guns, and it ebbs and flows in cycles of retaliatory shootings that fuel our homicide count,” Mr. Graves said. “Past actions have dismantled one side. We believe that taking out both sides can have an even more profound impact.”

Mr. Graves said law enforcement confiscated 15 firearms and caches of ammunition, as well as $126,000 in suspected drug money as part of Thursday’s operation. He also said authorities seized significant amounts of what prosecutors believe is methamphetamine, fentanyl and xylazine.

The defendants being charged with federal drug and weapons charges include: Davon Cunningham, 34; Levancie Carr, 31; Roosevelt Richardson, 48; and Antonio Lucas, 46. The final defendant, 39-year-old Rex Pelote Jr., is facing federal weapons charges.

“These investigations resulted in the arrest of 24 individuals for multiple offenses related to drug possession, distribution, as well as a variety of firearm offenses,” MPD Executive Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll said. “These offenders have been bringing harm to our communities and their arrest marks a significant step in securing our neighborhoods.”