Photo of firearm shells by Danny Fulgencio

Movie right negotiations probably are already underway. Us bespectacled nerds know the original 55-count legal indictment is always better. Der. The Dallas Police Department and federal agencies collaborated to charge 57 White Supremacist prison gang members in a massive drug trafficking and kidnapping ring, the Dallas Morning News reports in lengthy detail.

Long investigation: shorter version

From postcard-sized cells inside various Texas prisons, bosses of gangs including the Aryan Circle, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, the Peckerwoods, the Soldiers of Aryan Culture and the Dirty White Boys managed an operation selling meth, firearms, heroin and other opiates. They stored the stuff in stash houses around North Texas. The business ran successfully for some three years.

Sit down, Joe Pesci. Tarantino, we got this:

Four defendants in the case kidnapped and tortured a man over a $600 drug debt, chopping off a portion of his left index finger, which seems to be the focus of many a headline, presumably for its cinematic, dramatic and clickbait-y appeal. (Arrests Made After Kidnapping Victim Had Finger Chopped Off (CBS Local), White Supremacist Gang Members Selling Meth Chop Off Kidnapped Man’s Finger (International Business Times), that kind of thing, presumably for its cinematic, dramatic and clickbait-y quality. But it’s hardly the story’s essence.

We are not beneath mentioning the finger chopping in our headline, so no judgment here.

Gangs of various races work together ‘when need arises’

Some of the defendants are assumed members of Hispanic Houston-based prison and street gang Tango Blast. But aren’t we talking white supremacists here? C’mon, anyone who’s read or seen Thomas Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice” knows that “criminal ends overcome their racist views when the need arises,” as U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox noted during a press conference in Dallas.

Of the 57 people indicted, 42 have been arrested, nine already were in jail for unrelated state charges, and six are still on the loose. Officers and agents seized or stopped the flow of over 190 kilograms of methamphetamine, 31 firearms, and over $376,587 in cash.

If you have more than three minutes to spare, No. 1, thank your lucky charms, and also, read the News’ longform piece on growing up in a violent, drug-fueled gang. You also can peruse the entire indictment including the names of those charged here.

The Lakewood Advocate published a piece recently about an erstwhile street and prison gangster who, despite enduring seven stabbings, lived to help the police in his golden years.

And some of the most active Dallas street gangs run in — get this — Lake Highlands.

The daily paper calls it “Northeast Dallas” in the headlines, when something awful happens, because Lake Highlands property owners (and Realtors) complain so much about being associated in the media with gang activity. (Jake’s. Alamo=Lake Highlands, while an apartment complex a street away and north of Northwest Hwy,, where double murder took place=NOT LAKE HIGHLANDS, according to the very first comment on double-homicide story. in the Lake Highlands Advocate. Yeah, screw that double homicide! Not Lake Highlands—um, not important, even if it happens to be on the edge or outskirts? But I digress).

Homeowners often do not consider apartment renters — a gargantuan population in Lake Highlands — Lake Highlands. Lake Highlands, by the way isn’t a city and has no official boundaries.)

The Lakewood Advocate published a piece recently about an erstwhile street and prison gangster who, despite enduring seven stabbings, lived to help the police in his golden years.

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