The FBI Raid That Destroyed the East Coast Latin Kings – HT
December the 5th, 2019, just after 400 a.m. in Springfield, Massachusetts. The streets are dark and freezing. At 126 Ferglade Avenue in the Forest Park neighborhood, FBI SWAT operators stack outside a colonial house, weapons drawn. Inside, a man sleeps in the dining room. His name is Michael Czechelli, known as King Merlin, the Supreme East Coast regional overseer of the Latin Kings.
He controls gang operations across 14 states from Massachusetts to Florida. He has blood ties to the Genevese crime family and in approximately 3 seconds, federal agents will kick in his door. Across New England, over 650 law enforcement officers are executing simultaneous raids in what will become the largest takedown in FBI Boston history. Thrown down has begun.
But to understand how one of America’s oldest street gangs built an empire on the East Coast, we need to go back to 1954. Chicago, 1954. The Humbult Park neighborhood on the city’s west side is a war zone for Puerto Rican immigrants. They face constant violence from Irish, Italian, and Greek gangs who harbor deep anti-latino sentiment.
Young Puerto Rican men are accosted simply for walking through their own neighborhoods. They’re bullied at school, beaten on street corners, treated as invaders in a city that doesn’t want them. A man named Rammon Santos decides enough is enough. He forms the Imperials, a protective alliance designed to defend his community against external threats.
It’s not a criminal enterprise. It’s survival. For a decade, Puerto Rican gangs remain fragmented across Chicago. Then in 1964, a leader known as King Papo brokers, something unprecedented. Through careful diplomacy, he unifies the Imperials with the Jokers, the 23rd Street Boys, the Supreme Clicks, the Mar Kings, and the Skulls.
The Latin Kings are officially born. Two years later, on June 12th, 1966, everything changes. Chicago police shoot and kill a Puerto Rican man on Division Street. The community explodes. Young lords and Latin kings storm the streets together, rioting against police brutality. For the first time, the Latin Kings make national news. Recruitment surges.
Law enforcement takes notice. The 1970s and 1980s transform the organization. As Chicago’s drug trade expands, the Latin Kings evolve from a social club into a criminal enterprise. Economic desperation and systemic neglect push young men toward the profits of heroin and cocaine. By the mid 1980s, the Latin kings control drug corridors throughout the city, waging bloody turf wars against rivals like the maniac Latin disciples and Spanish cobras.
They develop a constitution, a manifesto, an internal judiciary. The five-point crown becomes their symbol. Black and gold, their colors. In the early 1980s, a man named Luis Felipe flees Chicago to escape prosecution. He lands in New York and quickly catches a murder charge for killing his girlfriend. From inside Collins Correctional Facility in 1986, Felipe founds the bloodline chapter, establishing the East Coast franchise of the Latin Kings.
The gang spreads through the prison system first, then spills onto the streets of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. By the 1990s, Hispanic immigration to Massachusetts is accelerating. Latino communities grow in Springfield, Lawrence, New Bedford, and Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. The Latin Kings follow.
They establish 11 chapters across the state, including a powerful presence inside the Massachusetts Department of Correction. By 2000, they’re the largest gang in Massachusetts prisons with 400 members behind bars coordinating criminal activity from their cells. This is the world that produces Michael Czechelli.
born in Springfield to an Italian family with blood ties to the Genov’s crime family through his uncle David Chicky Czechelli, a convicted book maker for the Springfield mob. In 2005, Michael is charged alongside 30 others in a federal Latin Kings crackdown. He is convicted of conspiracy to deal firearms, sentenced to 37 months.
The feds believe they have crippled the organization. They are wrong. Techelli emerges from prison and begins climbing. Despite not being Latino, he rises through the ranks, leveraging prison connections and his mafia bloodline. By the mid2010s, he holds the title of supreme east coast regional overseer, King Merlin. the man who answers only to Chicago.
Under Michael Czechelli’s leadership, the East Coast Latin Kings transform from a chaotic street gang into something far more dangerous. They become a structured criminal enterprise modeled on the Italian mafia. FBI special agent Joseph Bonavalont would later explain it plainly. The eastern region of the Latin kings is structured, organized, and run like Lacosa Nostra.
A crown council oversees operations. Meetings are held at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Social Club in Springfield, the same location where Genevves Capo Adulo Big Al Bruno was murdered in 2003. Gang members who violate rules are tracked in spreadsheets. Violence is discussed via encrypted emails. Orders flow from Chicago through Springfield to every chapter on the east coast.
New Bedford, Massachusetts becomes the gang’s most violent stronghold. The fishing city is already reeling from the opioid epidemic when the Latin kings arrive in force. H King G. Rodriguez runs the chapter as Inca with his brother Joseé King Stutter Rodriguez at his side. They establish a network of trap houses, multi-unit apartment buildings used to cook and distribute crack cocaine.
A local landlord named Robert Avitabil partners with the gang. His properties on North Front Street and Sawyer Street become centers of power. Latin Kings members live there, store weapons there, recruit vulnerable juveniles there. Rodriguez is recorded on video cooking cocaine in these trap houses directing violence against rivals handling firearms used to protect the drug operation.
Violence spikes dramatically in the summer and fall of 2019. Fuds with rival gangster disciples turn bloody. The Latin Kings dominate the cocaine trade in New Bedford, pushing against other local gangs and increasing the body count. Orlando King Santiago Torres serves as the new Bedford enforcer.
His job is organizing violence against rivals and disciplining Latin Kings members who step out of line. In February 2019, he chases a rival gang member down the street, pushes him to the ground, and kicks him repeatedly. The assault is captured on video. In July, he opens fire on a New Bedford street at rival gang members fleeing [snorts] a fight.
In September, he participates in another shooting where a victim is struck by gunfire. Casings from the scene are later traced to a weapon recovered from his apartment. In November, he drags a rival from a vehicle and beats him on the pavement. The violence is brazen and remarkably the gang members document it themselves.
The Latin Kings begin filming rap videos and posting them to YouTube under their king monikers. Juan Kingpun Figureroa’s channel accumulates 450,000 views. In one video called Chronicles, he raps about homicide, about putting 30 rounds in a clip and letting bullets fly. Other videos show gang members packaging cocaine for distribution.
Orlando Santiago Torres wraps about a shooting victim, describing how the body moved when struck by gunfire. The FBI watches everything. Meanwhile, in Boston, a man named Sha Harrison lives a double life. Known as a preacher and antiviolence activist, Harrison is hired by Boston public schools in 2015 as academic dean at English High School.
His job is mentoring at risk students and running an anger management program. In reality, Harrison is a full-fledged Latin king known as King Revan. He uses his position to recruit students into the gang and directs them to sell drugs in the school. On March the 3rd, 2015, Harrison suspects a 17-year-old student named Luis Rodriguez has stolen money and might inform police.
He meets the teenager at a McDonald’s, walks behind him, and shoots him point blank in the back of the head. The bullet shatters Rodriguez’s jaw, but misses his brain stem by 2 cm. Rodriguez survives, flags down a passing motorist, and tells police everything. Harrison is convicted in 2018, and sentenced to 26 years.
From prison, he continues gang activity, helping identify confidential informants. In 2014, the FBI’s Northshore gang task force launches Operation Thrown Down. Over 4 years, they infiltrate the gang’s highest levels using confidential informants. They record strategy meetings, ceremonies, and disciplinary proceedings.
They watch Czechelli order murders. They intercept encrypted letters containing coded hit orders on prisoners. They prevent at least eight killings. By late 2019, they’re ready. December 34th, 2019. Nightfalls across the Northeast. In FBI field offices throughout the region, SWAT teams receive their final briefings.
Seven teams from Boston and surrounding divisions. Three tactical units from Massachusetts State Police and Boston Police Department. Five aircraft assigned to provide aerial support. Three K9 units standing by. Target packages are distributed to team leaders. 62 names. Full legal names paired with street monikers that read like a roll call of royalty.
King Merlin. King G. King Stutter. King Pun. King Landy, King Nasty, King Fruity, King Clumsy, Queen India, King Revan. 31 search warrants have been prepared for 24 locations spanning Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Agents review the 190 page affidavit one final time.
4 years of investigation condensed into a document detailing drug networks, murder conspiracies, trap house operations, and YouTube confessions. The hierarchy that stretches from Springfield to Florida, from street corners to prison cells, from local chapters to Chicago’s national leadership. US Attorney Andrew Lelling and FBI special agent in charge Joseph Bonavalont coordinate final logistics from Boston.
When the sun rises, they will announce the largest takedown in FBI Boston Division history. December the 5th, 2019, 4 a.m. The raids begin. Darkness covers New England. Temperatures hover near freezing. Across multiple states, over 650 law enforcement officers move simultaneously. In Springfield’s Forest Park neighborhood, FBI SWAT approaches 126 Ferglade Avenue.
It is a colonial house where Michael Czechelli lives with his uncle Chicky. King Merlin sleeps in the dining room. The breach is swift and violent. Agents pour through the doorway. Weapons raised, flashlights cutting through darkness. Czechelli is taken into custody before he fully understands what is happening. In Chiki’s locked bedroom, agents discover a gun and ammunition hidden under the mattress.
The retired Genevese bookmaker will face additional charges for the parole violation. In New Bedford, tactical teams hit three apartment buildings on North Front Street and Sawyer Street. These are the trap houses, centers of power for the most violent Latin Kings chapter in Massachusetts. Agents move room to room, clearing each unit, securing evidence.
They find drugs. They find firearms. They find the infrastructure of a cocaine empire. In Boston, agents arrest members of the D5K chapter and the Morton Street bricks. In Lawrence, doors are kicked in before dawn. In Lowel, suspects are dragged from beds. In Worcester, Fitchburg, and Chelsea, the pattern repeats.
Flashbangs, shouted commands, handcuffs clicking shut. In Meridan, Connecticut, East Coast, Crown Council Chairwoman Esther Queen India Ortiz is apprehended. In Britain, Connecticut, Hector King Demon Vega is taken. In Rhode Island, Eric King E. Thomas, head of the state’s Latin Kings chapter, is arrested. The evidence response teams begin their work.
They catalog what the raids produce. Dozens of firearms, including an MP5 submachine gun fitted with a silencer, an AR-15, a MAC 10, a swordoff shotgun, machetes, knives, and multiple highcapacity magazines. Six cars, six motorcycles, three jet skis, an ATV, quantities of heroin, fentinyl, and crack cocaine. Approximately $38,000 in cash.
But the most significant recovery is human. During a raid in New Bedford, agents locate two missing children, a 14-year-old boy from New Bedford and a 16-year-old from Fall River. Both are recovered safely. By 11:00 a.m., US Attorney Andrew Lelling and Special Agent Joseph Bonavalont stand before reporters at the Federal Courthouse in Boston.
Lelling announces the numbers, 62 people charged, 54 apprehended that morning, nine already in custody on other charges, eight fugitives still at large. The charges include Rico conspiracy, drug trafficking, firearms offenses, money laundering, assault, robbery, witness intimidation, and conspiracy to commit more than 10 murders.
Bonavala reveals the scope of Czechelli’s power. Supreme East Coast regional overseer controlling 14 states with blood ties to the Genevese family. The eastern region, he explains, is structured and run like Lacosa Nostra. Leeling addresses what the investigation prevented. At least eight murders stopped before they could be carried out.
It is a big hit precisely because we were able to take out all of the leadership. Lelling tells reporters, “It will be extremely difficult for the gang to regroup in the region. Among those named is Sha Harrison, the former high school dean already serving 26 years for shooting his student. He now faces additional federal charges for continuing gang activity from prison.
The operation is given its official name, Operation Throne Down, a play on words, removing every king from their throne. New Bedford’s Latin Kings chapter, described as the most violent in the state, is effectively decapitated. The trap houses are seized, the leadership arrested. The YouTube rappers who bragged about their crimes will watch their own videos played as prosecution exhibits.
The mafia style hierarchy Czechelli built from Springfield is shattered in a single December morning. In the months following operation thrown down, defendant after defendant enters guilty p in federal court in Boston. April 2021. Michael Czechelli, King Merlin himself, stands before US senior district court judge Rya Zobel and pleads guilty to Rico conspiracy.
Prosecutors detail how he organized murder conspiracies against members who accused him of being a snitch. One target identified only as victim 22 was shot in Waterbury, Connecticut. His girlfriend told investigators he came home bleeding through his shirt. Victim 22 has not been seen or heard from since.
Catelli faces up to 20 years in prison. The man who rebuilt the Latin Kings after his first conviction, who rose to control 14 states, who modeled his gang on the Italian mafia, is going back to prison. This time, authorities hope it will stick. Joseé King stutter Rodriguez pleads guilty to rio conspiracy and drug trafficking for his role as incor chapter.
He had been recorded during a Latin Kings meeting after a member was murdered in October 2019, instructing soldiers to attack rival gang members without seeking his approval first. Open season on enemies. Orlando King Landy Santiago Torres, the enforcer who organized beatings and shootings, who wrapped about watching his victims dance when bullets struck them, receives 151 months in federal prison.
over 12 years for the man who dragged rivals from cars and fired into crowded streets. Juan King Pun Figareroa, whose YouTube channel accumulated 450,000 views, is sentenced to 2 years for shooting at a fellow Latin king in bad standing and creating propaganda videos glorifying gang violence. Roberto King Royalty Vargas receives 40 months for participating in the September 2019 shooting where a rival gang member was hit in the back while running for his life.
One by one, the trap house operators, the soldiers, and the chapter leaders fall. August 2022. Sha Harrison, King Rev, stands in federal court. He is already serving 26 years in state prison for shooting 17-year-old Luis Rodriguez in the back of the head. Now, he pleads guilty to federal RICO conspiracy charges.
He is the 60th and final defendant to plead guilty. Two others remain fugitives with active federal warrants. Harrison’s federal sentence is 18 years and 2 months to be served after his state sentence concludes. US Attorney Rachel Rollins calls him the architect of ruin for an entire generation of promising young lives. A federal judge orders Harrison to pay $10 million in damages to Luis Rodriguez, who survived with half his face paralyzed, permanent hearing loss, and an opioid addiction that developed from pain medication prescribed during his
recovery. Whether Rodriguez will ever see a dollar of that money remains unclear. Robert Avitabille, the landlord who rented his New Bedford properties to the Latin Kings knowing they would become drug dens and weapons caches, receives a sentence of time served. Approximately 4 days in custody plus 3 years of supervised release.
He forfeits the three apartment buildings that served as the gang’s centers of power. By the time final sentences are handed down in 2023, 60 of 62 defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Two fugitives remain at large. The Latin Kings still exist. The gang maintains chapters in 34 states with tens of thousands of members nationwide.
Chicago remains the motherland, the source of their constitution and their authority. But the east coast operation lies in ruins. The leadership structure Keatelli built, the mafia style hierarchy, the crown council, the network stretching from Massachusetts to Florida, all of it shattered. New Bedford’s trap houses have new owners.
The YouTube channels remain online, but many of the rappers who created them now sit in federal prison cells, watching years disappear. The Latin Kings were born from discrimination. Puerto Rican immigrants seeking protection on hostile Chicago streets. 70 years later, their east coast empire fell in a single December morning.
Operation Throne Down proved that even kings can be dethroned. But gangs like nature abhore a vacuum. Somewhere right now, a new crown is being claimed. If you know something, subscribe and say something down in the comments.