50 Bay Area gang members arrested as part of nationwide Project Wildfire

By Natalie Neysa Alund | Bay Area News Group
04/09/2015 05:47:45 AM PDT

Fifty gang members in Northern California were among more than 1,000 suspects rounded up nationwide as part of a six-week nationwide Homeland Security investigation, authorities said Wednesday.

The crackdown, dubbed Project Wildfire, ran from Feb. 23 to March 31 and netted members and associates of four different gangs around the region, including the Sureños, Norteños, Border Brothers and white power Skinheads, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah R. Saldaña.

The 50 arrested in Northern California are being prosecuted on state criminal charges, including various drug, weapons and parole violations. While none of those arrested is charged with homicides, a federal law enforcement agent said the arrests are an effort to disrupt powerful transnational gangs that work together on everything from homicides to gun trafficking to human trafficking.