Eleven gang members who police say are responsible for shootings and drug deals that have plagued some Boston neighborhoods have been swept up in a series of arrests and indictments in the last several weeks, city, state and federal officials said yesterday.
The indictments will help take off the streets gang members who have terrorized Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester, and other neighborhoods, police said. By Sept. 26, there had been 256 fatal and nonfatal shootings in the city this year. Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said gang members caused 75 percent of those shootings.
"A handful of individuals can have a huge impact in terms of quality of life," US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said during a press conference. "It doesn't make a difference which neighborhood you live in. Everybody should have the right to allow their children to sit on their front steps, to walk down in front of their homes, to walk back and forth from their parks, playgrounds, and schools without the fear of being a victim of violent crime."
Since August, the men who police say are members of various city gangs have been charged in federal and Suffolk Superior Court on charges of gun or drug possession. Several of the men charged with federal crimes have been ordered held without bail, and others are awaiting detention hearings.
Police believe four of the men charged with cocaine distribution were responsible for a large number of the shootings in parts of the city in the last four to five months, Deputy Superintendent Gary French said in a telephone interview.
"We may not be able to develop a shooting case on them because of the lack of cooperation or a variety of different reasons," he said. "But the intelligence that we have from street sources suggests that these kids are involved in violent crime."
Sullivan said that three men arrested last year on federal drug charges - Nathan Garrasteguy, 26; Amos Carasquillo, 19; and Louis Garcia Jr., 21 - were sentenced Thursday to 10 to 15 years in federal prison for cocaine distribution.
They were arrested in October 2006 during a crackdown by FBI and Boston police, during which 23 men were charged with dealing cocaine in or near the Bromley-Heath housing complex in Jamaica Plain. Most of the men arrested during that sweep have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
French said he hopes the long federal sentences will act as a deterrent for others.
"By taking them off the street, you really send a message to kids who want to step up and replace them," he said. "They're going to be targeted in the same fashion."
George Gormley - a lawyer for one of the indicted men, Patrick Gomes, 22 - said the evidence against his client described in a court affidavit is weak.
Gomes, who police said goes by the name Pistol on the street and has been convicted of witness intimidation and assault and battery, is accused of conspiring to distribute cocaine.
"There is an awful lot of innuendo and surmise in the affidavit that just isn't borne out by the facts," Gormley said, calling the affidavit "a wonderful exercise in hyperbole."
Six of the seven men indicted in federal court face drug charges, and one faces charges of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Four were charged in Suffolk Superior Court. Two were charged with gun possession and drug trafficking; one was charged with unlawful gun possession; and another was charged with drug possession, police said.
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.
