Columbus street gang ‘functionally no longer exists,’ official says
“These folks knocked a whole empire down today,” are the words U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Will Keyes recalled a defendant saying during a trial as part of Operation Sweet Silence.
The folks were law enforcement, and the empire was the Zohannon street gang, which Keyes said “functionally no longer exists.”
The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency held a news conference Monday to announce the results of Operation Sweet Silence, which took place in September 2024.
“That defendant was right: Law enforcement has dismantled this criminal network,” Keyes said.
Operation Sweet Silence was a targeted operation seeking hybrid street gangs in Columbus and across the nation with ties to two Mexican cartels, according to Keyes.
The Ledger-Enquirer reported hybrid gangs are formed when people from different gangs who either have common ground or grew up together work together for a common purpose. This can lead to the formation of a completely new gang or result in some members technically being part of multiple gangs.
Keyes said the Zohannons were involved in violent crime, which included homicide, drive-by shootings and weapons trafficking.
The operation led to 30 defendants being convicted, of which 21 have been sentenced to a total of 167 years in federal prison with no parole, according to Keyes.
In Columbus alone, $20 million in cocaine, fentanyl, marijuana and methamphetamine were seized as part of the operation, according to Keyes. A total of 119 firearms were also taken off the streets as part of the operation, Keyes said.
“This right here is what a successful, large-scale law enforcement operation looks like,” Keyes said.
David Jaffe, chief of the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section of the DOJ, said his group comprises federal prosecutors who are experts in building multi-defendant, multi-indictment gang prosecutions to disrupt or, when possible, dismantle “violent criminal organizations, like the Zohannon Street Gang.”
Jaffe called the Zohannon Street Gang a “substantial threat” to the community’s safety.
“We’ve been able to hold accountable the members and associates of the Zohannon gang for their criminal conduct,” Jaffe said.
Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman said, “When we work together, there are no boundaries to the limit of our resources and how far they can go to get the job done.”
FBI says operation impacted other gangs
Rich Bilson was the supervisory senior special agent for the FBI’s Columbus Office during the investigation. He said the dismantling of the Zohannon Street Gang has “really impacted, if not dismantled other gangs, including US World.”
The Zohannons and US World were two of the gangs involved in a Columbus gang war in 2021, which helped lead to the city’s 70 homicides that year.
Bilson said nine more defendants in the investigation will be sentenced in the coming weeks.
DEA says gangs linked to larger criminal organizations
Jae Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Atlanta Field Division, said, “This operation was a result of coordinated intelligence, shared resources and a common mission, to protect our communities and disrupt the criminal networks that threaten our neighborhoods.”
Chung said many of the street gangs mentioned in the news conference are connected to larger criminal organizations, and their drugs are supplied by Mexican cartels, like the Sinaloa Cartel in this case.
What does ‘functionally no longer exist’ mean?
When asked what he meant by the Zohannons functionally no longer exist, Keyes said the DOJ works closely with their law enforcement partners to identify who are known members and who is affiliated to ensure they targeted those individuals with these cases.
“As far as, could someone still be claiming a membership, even though it has been kind of wiped out? Sure, that’s possible,” Keyes said. “However, what they were doing before, they are no longer able to do today because of this operation.”
Keyes said he thinks the gang has been largely eliminated but they can’t stop someone from still claiming affiliation with the Zohannon street gang.
This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 2:54 PM.