Officials say vow kept with arrests
22 gang members now in custody
Authorities said yesterday they are keeping a promise to prosecute 25 members of a violent street gang they hold responsible for 57 shootings and six slayings in Dorchester and Mattapan in two years.
The Lucerne Street Doggz, who authorities said have about 40 members ranging in age from 18 to 28, now face federal and state gun and drug trafficking charges that could keep some jailed for up to 40 years.
"We told them we wanted them to put their guns down," Police Commissioner Edward F . Davis said at a press conference with US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, and officials from the State Police and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
"The ones that continued are being prosecuted today," Davis said . "We are following through on the warning that was issued."
At the press conference at US District Court and in court papers, authorities said the gang terrorized residents, sold drugs, and fired shots that wounded or killed dozens of people .
The gang also engaged in smaller crimes that destroyed the peace of a neighborhood, including robbing middle school students en route to school, police said in an affidavit.
"Today, they are the ones who should be afraid," said Conley, who added that investigators used traditional and high-tech surveillance techniques during the 11-month investigation. "Make no mistake, this investigation amounted to an antiterror campaign."
Seeking to break the gang's grip and improve the quality of life for residents, authorities said, they held two meetings last year involving gang members, police, job training groups, members of the 10 Point Coalition, and law enforcement.
During the meetings, dubbed Operation Ceasefire, authorities detailed the prison sentences that courts can impose for crimes involving guns and drugs , according to an affidavit by Boston police Sergeant John J. Ford.
Sullivan said that the leaders of the gang are in custody and that three of the 25 individuals to be prosecuted are still at large. He said 11 were taken into custody on state and federal charges Wednesday, and the rest already were in custody on a variety of charges.
Sullivan identified the leaders as Lyric "Half Dead" Greaves, James A. "Gunner" Walker, and Joshua Hightower, who are among the 11 facing federal prosecution.
The remaining 14 face state court charges, Sullivan said.
The gang was responsible for twice the number of shootings of any other gang in Boston, he said.
Also charged was 19-year-old Tara Julian Starring, who a law enforcement source said is the daughter of former New England Patriots receiver Stephen Starring.
Tara Starring, who is described in the affidavit as Greaves's girlfriend, is facing federal charges of using a communication facility to traffic in drugs.
She allegedly was overheard on 60 hours of taped phone conversations discussing the gang's criminal activity.
According to the affidavit, one alleged gang member, David "D Felony" Coleman, wrote to his associates from jail that they must "pay her a stack"' or "buck her in the forehead" -- kill her -- if she continued to work with authorities.
Sullivan said the crackdown should ease tension in the neighborhood blighted by the street gang, but he stopped short of saying the charges had eradicated area street gang crime.
Police said the gang's territory began on Callendar Street in Dorchester and stretched south along Blue Hill Avenue to Tennis Road and along Norfolk Street, an area of about 1 1/2 square miles.
John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. 