NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WVEC) -- A notorious gang known as "Thug Relations" has terrorized the Peninsula for years, being responsible for about a dozen brutal murders, drug deals, and home invasions.
Now, authorities say a task force which the public might not know much about has put them behind bars.
FBI agents swarm crime scenes in their navy jackets with the bright yellow letters. But rarely does the public know exactly how the FBI is involved. Only 13News Now was given an inside look at how the agency fights violent crime in Hampton Roads.
In July 2007, police activity invaded the Aqueduct Apartments. 17-year-old Aaron Sumler had been shot to death.
“It's just tragic what happened,” a neighbor reacted.
Two years later, crime scene tape shut down a mobile home park. Police officers were called to a home invasion in which Lafayette Bailey was killed.
“It's just too much, too much, too much,” Bailey’s fiancée said. “They just said that they wanted what they wanted and if he didn't do it, he was going to kill him.”
VIDEO: December 2009 story on Lafayette Bailey's murder
Authorities said the Thug Relations street gang was behind about a dozen murders in Newport News. According to Special Agent-in-Charge Martin Culbreth, “TR” was responsible for almost a decade of intimidation in the Denbigh area.
“If you want to be able to walk to the store or you want to be able to do anything in the neighborhood, you have to basically go through the gang,” he described.
Six years of casework resulted in federal convictions for 86 people. Some, including brothers Eric and Herbert Pridgen, are serving multiple life sentences.
The Pridgen brothers, who are from Newport News, were convicted by a federal jury of four VICAR murders, Hobbs Act robbery violations, felon in possession charges and use of a firearm resulting in murder.
“It's like local terrorism,” said Ted Roese, who supervises the Safe Streets Peninsula Task Force.
The task force led this investigation. It is a partnership among the feds, state and local law enforcement to target gangs.
Cases like this take a lot of time and resources. The investigation starts with the local police knowledge.
“We bring in that 'OK, we know the backyards and we know the alleys,'” Newport News Acting Police Chief Michael Grinstead explained. “Most of the time we know the players. We know the associates and where they live and where they hang out and things like that.”
The task force then connects the dots among jurisdictions.
“It's like a force multiplier,” Grinstead confirmed.
Roese believes this is where the FBI is at its best.
“Those connections don't necessarily get made without somebody looking at the bigger pictures,” he said.
Victims' family members often want to know why their case takes so long and why they can't get any information. We've learned the task force doesn't just work on one crime; behind the scenes, they're trying to build a larger case to take down a "criminal organization."
“One of the objectives in an investigation like that is to use lower level convictions to encourage people to cooperate against the higher-level players,” Roese explained.
Fears could become reality if police don’t take out the entire gang.
“It's one thing to be able to take the drug dealer, who's on the street corner, who's slinging the drugs off. But they'll get somebody tomorrow to replace that person,” Culbreth said. “We need to basically pull the gang out by the roots of the neighborhood so they're not there.”
The higher penalties the FBI and U.S. Attorneys bring to the table mean the gangs can be off the streets for good.
“Oftentimes we're putting people in prison for life,” Roese added. “So instead of being given opportunities to repeatedly terrorize their own neighborhoods, we're taking them off the streets forever.”
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