Gangster Disciples is largest street gang in Columbus, according to police, sheriff

To understand the extent of the gang problem in Columbus, the first place to look is the Muscogee County Jail.

On Wednesday, about 400 of the 1,066 inmates in the facility were validated members of one street gang or another, Sheriff Donna Tompkins said this week.

That is more than 37 percent of the jail population, which fluctuates day to day. Of that 400, jail officials have determined that about 300 of them are members of one organization, Gangster Disciples, also known as GD.

Gangster Disciples is the largest known street gang currently operating in Columbus, said Police Lt. Roderick Graham of the department’s Criminal Intelligence Unit. Five known gang organizations currently operate in the city, Graham said.

“There are gangs within gangs,” Graham said. “Take Gangster Disciples: that is the gang, but there are splinter groups that are part of it. In business terms, Gangster Disciples is the mother company.”

The gang issue is currently a hot topic in Columbus as the city’s homicide count has risen to 23 for the year with two shooting deaths last weekend. Police won’t say whether those recent shootings are connected to gang activity, but it is clear that it is part of the reason for this year’s homicide count.

“To say that all crime is directly linked to gang activity is a false statement,” Graham said. “A better statement is to say that there are crimes that occur and through our investigation it is determined that some of those arrested are associated with gangs.”

The murders tend to happen in clusters, Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson said this week.

“That’s why I call them murder clusters,” Tomlinson said on Wednesday, while attending a news conference in which police announced 14 arrests targeting felons and people “terrorizing their neighborhoods,” according to Chief Ricky Boren.

“If I kill your brother, then you come after me or my sister,” the mayor said. “That’s the way it works in that world. If someone messes with your criminal business or your criminal family, there is retaliation. Right now, we are in one of those cycles.”

On Monday night, Travis Porter, 35, was shot to death in a Farr Road apartment. During testimony in the April 2016 murder trial of Reginald Jamal Jackson, Porter admitted to being a former member of the Gangster Disciples.

In 2013, after a shooting that wounded him and killed 23-year-old Dior Cheney, Porter told police that Jackson was the shooter. Three years later, Porter recanted his story on the witness stand and would not identify Jackson as the shooter.

Jackson is currently in the Muscogee County Jail facing two murder charges in separate July shootings. He is charged in connection with the deaths of Michael Fleming and Brandon Scott. Scott was shot to death around 2 a.m. on July 7 on Rigdon Road. Fleming was found shot to death, his body in the trunk of a burning car, on July 10.

Jackson was booked into the jail on Saturday and is one of the verified gang members there, sheriff’s officials said.

Gangster Disciples is a national criminal enterprise that originated on the South Side of Chicago in the 1960s. There is a large Gangster Disciple presence in metro Atlanta, Graham said.

In April of this year, two Atlanta Gangster Disciple members were convicted of a two-day 2015 crime spree. Joseph Broxton, 22, and Daniel Pena, 24, were convicted in DeKalb County on multiple charges, including murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery and violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

Putting a number on gang members is a tricky prospect, Graham said. By his count, there are about 125 members of Gangster Disciples currently operating in Columbus. When asked if that number was low because of the 300 verified Gangster Disciple members in the jail, Graham said not necessarily.

“Gangs operate under the umbrella of Gangster Disciples, but they might have a different name on the street,” he said. “But when I say there are 125 members of Gangster Disciples, those are ones we know are Gangster Disciple members.

One of the smaller groups that operates under Gangster Disciples is Taliban 5150, Graham said.

The sheriff’s office uses various methods to determine if an inmate is a gang member. It could be as simple as the inmate telling jail personnel that they are in a gang. They can also be identified by tattoos and body markings as well as intelligence obtained through the jails.

Some repeat offenders have been identified by the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Tompkins said her office is constantly monitoring the gang situation inside the jail.

“The same things that they do on the street — extortion, assault and other crimes — they try to do in the jail,” Tompkins said.

And the gang numbers of those incarcerated tend to be higher because someone might join a gang for protection while in jail or prison.

“It is ironic that the prison system is creating gangs,” Tomlinson said. “Because if they went in for knocking off a liquor store by themselves and they get into prison, they could likely come out in a gang. They believe the prison system requires being in a gang.”

There is another issue at play, too, Tompkins said. Recently, Georgia sheriffs were warned of gangs trying to infiltrate the work forces inside prisons and jails.

“We have been told the gangs are tying to recruit people with clean records to get jobs in the correctional system,” Tompkins said. “That gives them someone on the inside, so they can continue the criminal activity.”

And that shows the change in the street gangs of the past and the ones currently operating, Tompkins said.

“It used to be all about turf,” Tompkins said. “Not any more. Now, it’s about drugs and money. It is not about territory. And you will see criminal gangs come together and work together to sell drugs or run a prostitution ring.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2017 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Gangster Disciples is largest street gang in Columbus, according to police, sheriff."