Jill Disis, and Kristine Guerra

IndyStar

Nine suspected gang members and associates who "terrorized" a north-side neighborhood while trafficking drugs and firearms throughout the city were arrested this week, authorities announced Thursday.

Seventeen guns, nearly 6 grams of cocaine, 26 pounds of marijuana and more than $32,000 in cash were seized from the Gett Money Gang, police said, after a months-long joint investigation by local and federal law enforcement that involved monitoring jail calls, wiretapping phones and following the suspects on drug runs.

The suspects, mostly in their early 20s, face charges varying from conspiracy to commit dealing in marijuana, corrupt business influence, criminal gang activity, criminal recklessness and maintaining a common nuisance. Court records allege members shot up buildings and sold large quantities of marijuana out of two homes at West 71st Street and North Michigan Road, and West 64th Street and North Michigan Road.

They face mostly low-level felonies punishable by up to six years in prison, though prosecutors also are seeking enhancements for criminal gang activity, which could increase potential sentences.

But court records hint at much more sinister activity involving the Gett Money Gang. Gang members, records say, used social media to spread violent messages and sell firearms. They produced music videos where they rapped about assaults, robberies and murders.

"These streets we terrorizing, running around with these pistols," some of the suspects sang in an August 2013 video posted on YouTube. The men wore matching T-shirts with clenched fists full of money and the words "Gett Money Gang" emblazoned on the front, records say. "Do the wrong thing and they get that chopper, got a few (expletive) straight fools with it, don't mind at all and they'll drop your daughter."

None of the suspects were charged this week in any assaults or killings, but court documents claim that many of them have been involved in a litany of shootings dating back to 2012.

The records also suggest the group may be connected to some of Butler-Tarkington’s most high-profile homicides of 2015.

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“For several years, the defendants charged in this case have terrorized citizens in Butler-Tarkington and other neighborhoods throughout Indianapolis,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Troy Riggs said in a news release.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Go Broke, began in August 2015, around the time court documents claim much of the violence authorities associated with the Gett Money Gang boiled over.

At the Indiana State Fair that month, records say a large fight broke out between Gett Money and a rival gang, identified as the Butler-Tarkington-based KG. The brawl injured an Indiana State Police trooper and resulted in four arrests, including two suspects arrested in this week's bust.

Court records suggest some of the following shootings in Butler-Tarkington may have been acts of retaliation by one gang against the other, including the unsolved killings of 10-year-old Deshaun Swanson in November 2015 and 32-year-old Clarence “Wade” Havvard, a father of two, in August 2015. The newly released court documents allege shell casings recovered from both crime scenes match those that were found in other shootings that police say are tied to the gang.

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When asked whether investigators can definitively connect this week's arrests with those killings, Riggs declined to comment. IMPD Capt. Rick Riddle said detectives are still examining potential links and are testing the guns recovered in this case.

Many of the accused gang members are either related or attended school with each other, court records say. The gang grew out of another Indianapolis street group known by several names, including 71st Street, Northside and the FAM or Forever After Money Gang — a group that comprised at least a dozen teenagers in 2009, including two of the men who would later be arrested in the November 2015 killing of 28-year-old Amanda Blackburn, a pregnant mother and pastor’s wife.

And another man associated with the FAM Gang, Michael Pugh, is serving lifetime sentences for his role in high-profile, violent home invasions and sexual assaults three years ago on the city’s north side. Pugh also appeared in the August 2013 Gett Money Gang music video.

The people arrested Tuesday include:

Rashaan Bangmon, a.k.a. “Shawny G,” 20

Charles Davis, Jr., a.k.a. “Little Chucky,” 20

David Gibbs, 20

Deion Orr, a.k.a. “Bo,” 22

Ryan Pedtke, a.k.a. “Twin,” 29

Casey Pugh, 39, aunt to Michael Pugh

Micah Smith, 23

Landon Tompkins, a.k.a. “Lando,” 20

Daitwon Williams, a.k.a. “Twon,” 20

Police also have arrest warrants for:

Robert Carey, a.k.a. “Savage,” 19

Tarell Davis, a.k.a. “Rell,” 22

Jaylen Grice, a.k.a. “JG.” 22

Hayes Hall, a.k.a. “Purp,” 24

Deshalon Jackson, a.k.a. “Lil’ D,” 20

Robert Starks, 25

Many of the suspected gang members are already in jail on other felony charges, many of which are gun- and drug-related. Some have criminal histories that date back to 2011, when they were still teenagers.

Tompkins is awaiting trial for an attempted murder charge in connection with the shooting of a taxi driver in 2014, when Tompkins was 18. Police said he and another teenager entered a cab and shot the driver.

Charles Davis Jr., Williams, Orr and Gibbs also are awaiting trial for other charges, such as robbery, criminal recklessness, unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, dealing in marijuana, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct, online court records show.

In 2015, Davis was sentenced to home detention and was placed on electronic monitoring after pleading guilty to a charge of resisting law enforcement. As part his sentence, the court imposed a 9 p.m. curfew on Davis and prohibited him from using social media and showing “behavior that can be conceived as gang affiliated,” according to online court records. He violated the terms of his sentence shortly after, records show.

Orr was charged in 2012 with carrying a handgun, criminal confinement and multiple counts of robbery. He was sentenced to prison as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. He was released, according to court records, and violated the terms of his probation last March.

Riggs, Mayor Joe Hogsett, Prosecutor Terry Curry and FBI Supervisory Special Agent Ed Wheele detailed the latest arrests during a news conference at the mayor's conference room.

For several months, they said, police intercepted phone calls of the suspected gang members and associates, and followed them on drug runs throughout the city.

Detectives eventually served search warrants at multiple locations associated with the group in recent months, including the home off of West 64th Street and North Michigan Road. There, they found a handgun, various ammunition, two mason jars with marijuana, a Gett Money skull cap and a ski mask.

At the house of Pedtke, who police believe supplied many of the drugs for the group and financed its musical pursuits, they found several thousand grams of marijuana, two handguns, ammunition, drug paraphernalia, cellphones and nearly $20,000.

Detectives also monitored social media accounts associated with the suspects. Tarell Davis, who used the “GMG” moniker in a Twitter username, posted numerous chilling messages. One from January read, “Trust me my squad do the killing.”

Court documents say Williams used an Instagram account that included the letters “GMG” to try to sell a gun. In a December 2015 screenshot, a picture shows a Glock 22 .40-caliber handgun with an extended magazine. “Glock 22 for sale I want $250,” Williams wrote.

And in a Twitter post on Monday, Charles Davis referenced song lyrics about hiding from police.

"I Been Just Tryn Stay LowLow From Da PO PO," Davis wrote.

He was arrested the next day.

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IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis.

Call IndyStar reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter:@kristine_guerra.