DOJ Charges 81 in Puerto Rico Gang Takedown

The Justice Department has charged 81 alleged members of a violent Puerto Rico gang with running a drug and gun conspiracy across the island's western communities.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the takedown Thursday during a visit to Puerto Rico, part of the Trump administration's push to showcase its record on violent crime.

The FBI and the Puerto Rico Police Department arrested 70 of the defendants. Prosecutors say the gang, known as "Los Baja Deo" or LBD, moved cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and marijuana and answered perceived threats with shootings, kidnappings and murders.

What Prosecutors Allege

A federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned the indictment on Aug. 19, charging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, possession and distribution of controlled substances, and firearms violations.

The conspiracy dates to 2021, according to the indictment, and involved selling heroin, fentanyl, crack and powder cocaine and marijuana within 1,000 feet of several public housing projects in the Mayagüez area.

Blanche said investigators seized 21 firearms, including machine guns, and estimated the organization distributed at least 340 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics and at least 2,200 kilograms of cocaine, generating more than $49 million in proceeds.

Prosecutors say the defendants coordinated using two-way radios, cellphones, instant messaging and social media. Twenty-one of them face an added count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

All 81 face a narcotics forfeiture allegation of more than $49.7 million. An indictment is only an allegation, and every defendant is presumed innocent.

A Second Bust at Sea

In an unrelated operation, the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Dixon intercepted a small boat roughly 50 miles south of Puerto Rico carrying an estimated 7,250 pounds of cocaine worth about $54.5 million, according to the Coast Guard.

Five people aboard were detained. The cocaine and the vessel were destroyed at sea.

Separately, Eric Rendel Masqueo Polanco, described by authorities as a Dominican cocaine kingpin, was extradited from Colombia to San Juan to face charges there.