12 members of Minneapolis gang allegedly involved in "open-air drug market" charged
Federal and local officials on Wednesday announced charges against a dozen people allegedly associated with a Minneapolis gang involved in drug trafficking.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said five people are charged federally and seven others face state charges. Rosen said they are all associated with a gang known as Family Mob and are "important players in the open-air drug market of south Minneapolis along Lake Street."
Officials from the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office, Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and Drug Enforcement Administration held a joint news conference to enumerate the charges.
"Since the 1990s, this gang has conspired to deliver deadly narcotics to our neighborhoods and ushered in violence to aid in the efforts to claim control over their so-called territory," Interim FBI Special Agent in Charge Rick Evanchec said.
Evanchec said he expects all 12 charged to be in custody by the end of the day Wednesday. As of Thursday, all but one are in custody. They are accused of collectively possessing with intent to distribute over 7kg of fentanyl since July 2025.
Earlier on Wednesday, the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office said it was "executing search and arrest warrants this morning throughout the Twin Cities area in connection with a violent drug trafficking organization." Evanchec said authorities executed 14 warrants to seize narcotics, guns and other evidence.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said the two mass shootings along the Lake Street corridor in September of last year were connected to the Family Mob. Ten people were shot and injured within a 12-hour period, and two others died.
O'Hara says the investigation continues as "additional cases are being developed."
The charges come from a threadbare U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota that has seen a wave of career prosecutors depart recently over objections to Trump administration directives.
Rosen said the office has been hiring at a "good clip," and said he's confident that they'll have the resources to prosecute the case.
The joint investigation also marks a moment of unity for federal and local officials who have often been at odds as federal agents surged into Minnesota over the preceding months. Local officials, including O'Hara and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt, have decried federal tactics in the state.
The FBI, meanwhile, has withheld evidence and information in two federal killings from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which wasn't involved in Wednesday's news conference.
