RICHMOND — Seven suspected members of a violent West Contra Costa street gang connected with three killings and more than a dozen attempted homicides have been arrested, authorities said Wednesday.
Operation Stop Swervin rounded up the seven and put out a warrant for an eighth during an 18-month investigation into crimes that have victimized people in 12 cities across Contra Costa and Alameda counties. Authorities began the probe after a home invasion robbery in Fremont.
The gang, known as Swerve Team, has already been publicly tied to high-profile violent crimes, including the shooting deaths of three people in Richmond last year, one of them an 18-year-old man who was shot about 50 times.
Authorities say the gang also was responsible for 14 attempted murders, six armed robberies, two carjackings and a high-profile home-invasion robbery last year that resulted in the non-fatal shooting of an Orinda school board member.
The investigation was also a response to an uptick in violence in West Contra Costa last year, which included an increase in homicides and a string of drive-by shootings on Bay Area freeways.
Richmond Police Chief Allwyn Brown called the arrests a “significant disruption” of the gang’s activity and influence.
The eight members face three murder charges and more than a dozen charges of attempted murder, with offense dates going back a year. The criminal complaint alleges they murdered 26-year-old Melvin James, as well as 18-year-old Otilio ‘Nico’ Martinez and 30-year-old Maxim Biswas.
All three homicide victims were shot to death last year in Richmond, within 45 days. On Wednesday, authorities played an audio tape of a gun unloading 67 rounds at Martinez.
“These are some of the most egregious crimes we’ve seen in the Bay Area in quite some time,” FBI Special Assistant Bertram Fairries said. “It’s not typical gang retaliation stuff. There are individual victims with no connection at all to them. Their intent was to intimidate and scare.”
The investigation resulted in the arrests of Jermaine Hicks, Tarell Brown, Ronald Fluker, Tommie Woods, Bobby Ray Williams, Marrico Williams and Torion Young. Cardell Waters has an outstanding warrant for his arrest and remains the object of a police hunt.
“It’d be helpful if he surrendered,” Allwyn Brown said. “We will catch up to him.”
The seven gang members are being held at the County Jail in Martinez in lieu of $24 million bail each, Brown said.
More than 200 guns also were taken off the streets as a result of the investigation, authorities said.
The Swerve Team has been known to authorities for years. It is based in North Richmond and its members have been known to don New York Yankees apparel. Members originally called themselves “Trojans in Training.” The name “Swerve Team,” morphed from the saying, “Swerve for Erv,” which members started saying as a tribute to Ervin Colley Jr., a young man who was shot and killed in North Richmond in 2011, according to court records.
Brown said that in addition to Richmond, the gang committed crimes in Fremont, San Pablo, Pinole, Antioch, Orinda, Livermore, Brentwood, Pittsburg, Rodeo and Danville during the 18 months.
Authorities also showed video the gang is suspected of posting to YouTube, in which members seem to be celebrating the gangster life. Some of the kids in the video appear to be as young as 8 years old.
“Gangsters will involve young people. It’s not new. It’s not unique to Richmond,” Brown said. “But once you get to the stage of shooting, now it’s only going to lead to death, serious injury or incarceration. There’s really no future in it.”
The investigation into the Swerve Team is only the latest anti-gang operation in Contra Costa in recent memory. Last year, federal and state authorities arrested two dozen alleged Norteno gang members in a wiretap operation, and weeks ago announced they’d busted several alleged members of the Manor Boyz, another Richmond gang, on suspicion of murder and other violent crimes.
Authorities allege Swerve Team members Marrico Williams and Tarell Brown shot at two rival Richmond gang members in Feb. 2016, and that another alleged member — Bobby Ray Williams — committed a gang shooting in Antioch a month later. The three were also implicated — along with three others — in a six-month span of home invasion robberies in Livermore, Danville, Orinda, and other parts of the East Bay.
Brown and Woods, another defendant in the robbery string, are alleged to have cased homes to burglarize in Benicia. Authorities say the gang used stolen cars and rental cars to commit more than a dozen non fatal shootings dating back to last year.
The FBI Safe-Street Task Force involved with the investigation included officers from the Richmond, Antioch, Concord, Pittsburg, and El Cerrito police departments; the California Highway Patrol; the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the FBI and the California Department of Corrections.
