Story highlights Nearly 50 alleged members of a nationwide gang are charged in federal indictment

Allegations include murder, racketeering, drug trafficking and bank fraud

Documents show inner workings of a corporate-style crime syndicate

Atlanta (CNN) Several leaders of a notorious nationwide gang were charged in sweeping federal indictments unsealed Wednesday in Atlanta and Memphis.

Forty-eight alleged members of the Gangster Disciples, a Chicago-based gang operating in at least 24 states, were charged with racketeering offenses including murder, extortion, drug trafficking and credit card fraud, according to John Horn, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

"The Gangster Disciples are a highly organized and ruthless gang that recognizes no geographical boundaries," said Britt Johnson, head of the FBI's Atlanta field office. "Its members have for too long indiscriminately preyed upon and infected the good people of our communities like a cancer."

Johnson said gang members legitimized themselves in their communities by organizing ostensibly altruistic endeavors such as food drives to feed the homeless, and, in a sinister twist, "stop the violence" rallies.

The gang is administered with such merciless order that Johnson said one recruit was killed when he failed to show for a neighborhood cleanup event organized by the Disciples.

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