DETROIT — Federal prosecutors Thursday unsealed a racketeering indictment against 40 members and associates of the Almighty Vice Lord Nation in the latest attack on violent street gangs in Detroit.
The 172-page indictment accuses alleged Michigan gang leader Kevin "Spaghetti" Fordham of Detroit, enforcers and other high-ranking leaders of orchestrating a racketeering conspiracy since 2012 that included murder, drug dealing, robberies, extortion and stabbings. The indictment also accuses members of ordering hits on inmates within the Michigan Department of Corrections and people on the street.
The case appears to be one of the largest racketeering conspiracy cases in federal court history in Detroit. In recent years, more than 100 people have been charged with the crime as Detroit police and federal investigators tried to curtail violent crime in one of the nation's most dangerous cities. Those convicted of the crime include members of the Seven Mile Bloods gang and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Federal agents executed several search warrants Thursday and arrested multiple people who are expected to make initial appearances later Thursday and Friday in federal court in Detroit.
The gang is described as highly organized, hierarchal and violent, run by leaders who approved hits on inmates in Michigan's prison system, including arranging for one felon to be stabbed in the face in early 2019, according to the indictment.
The national gang was founded in Chicago in the 1960s and operates several branches in Michigan that are overseen by a governing board that is empowered to order hits on people. The hits are known within the gang as Key 21 orders.
The Vice Lords are social media savvy, prosecutors said. For example, in July 2017, Fordham posted on Facebook that he was the chief enforcer of the gang, according to the indictment.
The indictment indicates prosecutors monitored phone calls and other communications involving accused gang members.
In one recorded phone call in May 2019, high-ranking leader Terry Douglas was overheard taking credit for arranging the assault of a fellow prisoner, prosecutors said.
In another recorded call in September 2017, Fordham is accused of discussing gang operations and discipline with an inmate.
"They either get in tune or get tuned up, that's it," Fordham said, according to the indictment.
