DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) A federal grand jury has indicted 23 suspected gang members on racketeering charges in only the second case in which the federal racketeering law has been used against a Kansas gang.
U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says the indictment against the Norteno gang also charges four of the men with the June 2009 murder of Israel Peralta and attempted murder of at least three other men in Dodge City. The indictment was obtained by The Associated Press before its official release.
Former U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren first used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to prosecute 28 members of the Crips gang in Wichita in 2007.
Congress enacted RICO in 1970 to target the Mafia, and the law has been used in human trafficking and gang cases.
