FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday announced that the agency had made around 50 arrests of alleged Latin Kings gang members and seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets and drugs in a nationwide operation.
In "Operation Broken Crown," authorities engaged in a "sweeping violent gang takedown involving 13 field offices targeting" the street gang, Patel said, adding that its members had been threatening law enforcement officials.
"We’re breaking the violent gang network in America. This comes after 2025 when the FBI had a 210% increase in gang takedowns of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua," he wrote, referring to two transnational gangs that were declared as foreign terrorist organizations under the Trump administration last year.
The Latin Kings, a street and prison gang founded in Chicago decades ago, have been targeted by federal officials in recent months, including during operations to deport illegal immigrants.
"We learned that Chicago’s city streets have 110,000 gang members," he said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. "They’ve had 1,200 shootings this year alone and 360 homicides."
Gang members affiliated with the Latin Kings in Chicago, according to the agency, have sent spotters on rooftops who are equipped with guns and radios.
"These individuals track ICE and CBP movements in real-time, relaying coordinates," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. "This surveillance has enabled ambushes and disruptions during routine enforcement actions, including recent raids under Operation Midway Blitz," a recent immigration operation in Chicago, it said.
The incident occurred amid protests in Minneapolis after video footage showed an ICE agent shooting and killing a woman, identified as Renee Good, who was behind the wheel of a vehicle.