BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged eight suspected Connecticut gang members in connection with six killings and other crimes in the Bridgeport area including drug trafficking and racketeering.
Four of the men were charged in a superseding indictment unsealed this week, prosecutors said. The others were charged in January. They range in age from 19 to 24 and go by nicknames such as “Heavyweight Champ,” “Ty Ralph Lauren” and “Bookie.”
Messages seeking comment were left with lawyers for five defendants. Three of the men did not have lawyers listed in court records.
Prosecutors say the eight charged men are members or associates of the “East End gang,” a Bridgeport street gang involved in distributing heroin and other drugs and using deadly violence against rival gangs and other people.
According to prosecutors, seven of the defendants were each involved in at least one killing or attempted killing between January 2018 and June 2020.
If convicted, those seven men each face a maximum sentence of life in prison. The other defendant, who is not accused of a killing or attempted killing, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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