NOPD arrests five ’89ers’ gang members; Serpas vows to continue fight against gangs

By John Harper, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on June 21, 2013 at 3:53 PM, updated June 21, 2013 at 9:02 PM

Five people believed to be key members of the 89ers gang, which police say was running a thriving drug trade on the border of the Florida and St. Roch neighborhoods in New Orleans, have been arrested as part of a federally funded narcotics investigation, NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas said Friday.

The arrests mark the fourth New Orleans gang round-up in two months, but Serpas said the long criminal records and criminal mentality of those arrested have police officers frustrated.

In September 2012, the NOPD Intelligence Unit and NOPD Major Narcotics Unit launched an undercover investigation into a drug trafficking operation taking place near the intersection of N. Tonti Street and Almonaster Avenue, Serpas said Friday at a news conference. In the course of that investigation, police have arrested Marquette Chambers, 35; Tommie Winley, 26; Armando Amador, 22; Welton Leblanc, 24; and Jermaine Armstead, 40.

Last week, 20 members of the Central City based 3-N-G-gang were indicted, and in May, 15 members of the 110ers gang, the organization implicated in the shooting of 5-year-old Briana Allan last year, were indicted. And a federal drug raid on June 7 resulted in the arrest of four Central City residents, some of whom were Allen’s family members, who were indicted on racketeering charges.