Gang war sparks crime spree

Eunice Police say a war between the Eunice street gang, Goons for Life, and their Ville Platte counterparts, Cross Town Mafia, sparked a crime spree from May through July.
Police had two starting points for the crime spree that involved shootings, vehicle thefts and burglaries.
One version is the war started after a Eunice man’s vehicle was shot on Carron Street on May 18.
Eunice Police Lt. Michael Dunn offered another starting point.
“A Goon for Life member had a girlfriend. All of the CTMs and the GFLs are buddies until one of them slept with the other’s girlfriend. That’s when the war started,” Dunn said.
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said the May 18 shooting ignited the crime wave.
“We started having car thefts and ... that was when we created these two teams to start working on that — concentrating on these street crimes,” he said.
Dunn said, “All of them admitted the reasons why they were stealing firearms was to go to war with them ... them is the CTM, Cross Town Mafia gang out of Ville Platte.”
Once the police teams started working, Fontenot said, “...within a short period of time they started identifying people involved, making arrests and the shootings stopped and shortly after that the car thefts stopped because we started making arrests on that.”
Fontenot said the crime wave came in stages, but police got their break with an anonymous tip in early June.
“We are still making arrests going back to the car thefts,” he said. “All the shooting arrests pretty much have been made. We are still working on the car thefts. We are still making arrests on that even though we haven’t had an car thefts in awhile. And, we are still working on the burglaries and still making arrests and getting warrants for those things,” he said.
The vehicle burglaries have continued, but to a lesser degree and they are not related to the gang activity, he said.
The two investigative teams have made several trips to Ville Platte during the course of their work, he said. They have have been working with police there, and the sheriff’s offices in Evangeline and St. Landry parishes, he said.
“We learned a lot of the theft and burglaries were being done by people from Ville Platte. It is that Cross Town Mafia,” he said.
Dunn said Cross Town Mafia members said broke into vehicles looking for firearms because they were getting shot at by the Goons for Life.
Dunn said there are least 43 people identified as members of the Goons for Life. Police have identified “13 or 14” people as members of the Cross Town Mafia.
There were seven vehicles and seven firearms stolen during the crime spree, he said. All the vehicles have been recovered and all but two of the firearms have been found, Dunn said.
Fontenot said the entire police staff became involved in the investigation as they sifted through nuggets of tips.
Some of the information provided by the public may not seem important to them, “but that little piece is what sometimes ... can snowball,” Fontenot said.
Arrested in the shootings were: Jeremiah O’Brian Gallow, 17, of the 500 block of South Mallet Street, Eunice, charged with attempted first-degree murder; two juveniles, one charged with attempted first-degree murder and the other with attempted second-degree murder; and Jamie Freeman, 17, of the 500 block of South Mallet, Eunice, charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Others arrested, some on multiple dates and linked to the crime wave, are:
Alshamir Casaine McKoy, 18, 400 block of North Chataignier, Ville Platte. Charged with motor vehicle theft and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Victoria Thomas, 35, of the 500 block of Halsey, Eunice. Charged with motor vehicle theft and accessory after the fact.
Juvenile, 15. Motor vehicle theft and illegal possession of stolen things.
Jarinsky Rantez Jones, 17, o f the 300 block of Corn, Eunice. Resisting an officer, Illegal possession of stolen things, motor vehicle theft, firearm theft and simple theft.
Juvenile, 15, Eunice. Resisting an officer.
Juvenile, 16, Ville Platte. Resisting and officer.
Juvenile 14, Ville Platte. Resisting an officer and illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile.
Juvenile, 15, Ville Platte. Resisting an officer.
Antoine Jerome Daniel McKoy, 30, 100 block of Wilson, Ville Platte. Motor vehicle theft.
Juvenile, 16, Ville Platte. Illegal possession of stolen things.
Juvenile, 14, Ville Platte. Illegal possession of stolen things.
Juvenile, Ville Platte. Wanted for illegal possession of stolen things.
Marcus Arvie, 17, who is in custody in Ville Platte. Principle to possession of stolen things valued over $5,000, motor vehicle theft, illegal possession of a firearm and contributing to the delinquency.
Juvenile, 15, Eunice. Illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile and illegal possession of stolen firearms.
Antoine Jerome Daniel McKoy, 30, 100 block of East Wilson, Ville Platte. Motor vehicle theft, firearm theft, illegal possession of stolen things.
Alshamir Casaine McKoy, 18, 400 block of Chataignier Street, Ville Platte. Motor vehicle theft.
Juvenile, 15, Eunice. Simple burglary.
Juvenile, 14, Ville Platte. Principle to burglary.
Malik Omar Charles, 18, 1300 block of West Live Oak, Ville Platte. Simple burglary and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
Daniel Gallow, 22, 800 block of Railroad Street, Ville Platte. Warrant for simple burglary and damage to property.