Top 6 Gang Member Indicted, Arrested in South Florida
~ New charges added in superseding indictment against two original
defendants ~
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum and Palm Beach County
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw today announced a superseding indictment has been
handed down against Top 6 gang members arrested in June 2008. The new
indictment adds two narcotics-related charges against two original
defendants and indicts a new defendant on numerous criminal charges,
including criminal racketeering and attempted first-degree murder. Jimmy
Gilles was arrested this afternoon on the charges included in the new
indictment, which was handed down late last night by the Statewide Grand
Jury.
Gilles will be charged with two count of attempted first-degree murder,
both felonies which carry maximum sentences of life in prison; one count of
racketeering and one count of conspiracy to commit racketeering, both
first-degree felonies; one count of shooting into a building and one count
of a delinquent in possession of a firearm, both second-degree felonies;
and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, a third-degree
felony. All of Gilles’ charges will be added to the predicate incidents
supporting the charges of racketeering and criminal racketeering facing all
of the gang members. Gilles’ bond has been set at more than $1.5 million.
The Top-6 gang is a violent Haitian group that has been connected to a
number of murders, both as assailants and victims, as well as possession
and sale of narcotics. Over the past two years the Violent Crime Task Force
has investigated 41 shootings and 14 homicides, including the triple
homicide in Lake Worth on March 27, 2007, directly related to this gang.
Law enforcement has also attributed over 150 shootings, including the 2006
Christmas Eve shooting at the Boynton Beach Mall, to Top 6 over the same
time period. This gang has been an extremely active and violent criminal
enterprise in Palm Beach County for several years.
This indictment and arrest come after continued cooperation and work
between the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the Office of Statewide
Prosecution, and the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office. Twelve
co-defendants were arrested in June 2008; two have already been convicted
and sentenced to prison terms, and three others are cooperating with the
Office of Statewide Prosecution.
