Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press

On the streets they're known as Ugg, Peezy and Mikey. They run with a gang called the 6 Mile Chedda Grove, says the FBI.

But they're not running anymore.

In a new indictment unsealed in federal court today, nine more members of the 6 Mile Chedda Grove street gang from Detroit's east side were indicted on charges involving crimes of all sorts: killings, shootings, drug dealings, assaults. Among the nine charged are Ugg, Peezy and Mikey, who are now in federal custody on racketeering conspiracy charges in their alleged involvement in a gang that the FBI says has been terrorizing Detroit's east side for years.

And they're not the only ones.

In four years, federal, local and state law enforcement agencies — through the Detroit One partnership — have arrested more than 100 gang suspects in a slew of violent crimes across the city.

The latest to join the list are Mario (Ugg) Jackson, 23; Phillip (Peezy) Peaks, 28, and Michael (Mikey) Richardson, 28, all of Detroit. They were arrested over the last two days, along with a Tennessee man who is also charged in the case, which revolves around two midafternoon shootings that killed two and seriously injured some children last December.

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In June, two gang suspects — Edwin Mills and Carlo Wilson — were indicted in their alleged roles in those shootings. Today, a superseding — or new — indictment was unsealed, adding nine more defendants and fresh allegations about two more killings that happened in broad daylight last year.

"The people of Detroit deserve a safe city in which they may thrive," said Detroit Police Chief James Craig. "The Detroit One partnership is rooted in the belief that all citizens and neighborhoods deserve to be free of crime and our joint efforts to make that a reality will continue."

According to the indictment, 6 Mile Chedda Grove is a street gang that operates primarily within an area bordered by East McNichols Road to the north, Kelly Road to the east, Houston-Whittier Street to the south and Chalmers Street to the west. Authorities say the gang uses violence to retaliate against rivals, to intimidate witnesses and to help members rise up within the ranks of the gang.

The new charges are part of a bigger and ongoing effort to crack down on gang violence in Detroit, where local, state and federal law enforcement groups are teaming up to dismantle what they consider the most violent gangs in Detroit. Known as the Detroit One initiative, members of the FBI’s Violent Gang Task Force and the Detroit Police Gang Intelligence Unit — among others — have helped arrest more than 100 gang suspects in four years. They include:

• 17 members of the Seven Mile Blood street gang.

• Nine members of the Bounty Hunter Bloods street gang.

• 13 members of the Latin Counts street gang.

• 14 members of the Phantom Outlaw Motorcycle Club / Vice Lords street gang.

• Four Vice Lord members in state court on armed robbery charges and a Vice Lord leader charged under the federal street gang statute in his role in that armed robbery.

• Nine Vice Lords members on racketeering charges stemming from the shooting of four family members who were gunned down at their home on Detroit’s northwest side;

• Three members of the Band Crew street gang.

• 10 members of the RTM street gang.

• 24 individuals on drug conspiracy charges for running heroin, crack and cocaine rings in 16 different houses in the east side Ravendale neighborhood of Detroit.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said the efforts are working.

"The Detroit One strategy to dismantle violent gangs has two key components — enforcement operations like this one and intervention through the Ceasefire call-in program," McQuade said in announcing the charges today. "We have seen encouraging results, including a 35% reduction in shootings in Detroit’s 9th Precinct, where this gang operates."

Out of the nine new defendants charged today, seven are already in federal or state custody on other charges. They include:

• Edwin (Ed Boy) Mills, 26, of Detroit.

• Carlo (Los) Wilson, 23, of Warren

• Donell (Dnell) Thompson, 26, of Detroit.

• Lomnil (Lomo) Jackson, 23, of Detroit

• Patrick (Cane) Johnson, 22, of Detroit

• Corey Mills, 22, of Detroit

• Robert (R.B.) Baytops, 41, of Detroit

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @Tbaldas.