Alleged Baltimore gang founder on run after indictment

BALTIMORE (AP) — Federal officials requested an arrest warrant Friday for the alleged founder of a violent Baltimore gang who they say failed to surrender after he was named in a racketeering indictment.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the indictment of 15 alleged members and associates of the Triple C Gang in connection with 18 killings, 27 attempted killings and the operation of street-level drug distribution “shops.” Officials said 14 were already in custody, and the 15th, Gary Creek, who was on pretrial release related to a 2019 drug charge, was expected to surrender prior to a court appearance.

But Creek failed to show up, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia McLane stated in a court document requesting the arrest warrant, according to a report in The Baltimore Sun.

In a news release, prosecutors said Friday that Creek had not been charged with violating the terms of his release after more than a year and it seemed “reasonable and appropriate” to arrange his surrender. But now, prosecutors said with evidence of violated terms they are seeking to revoke the conditions of his release and a warrant for his arrest.

The Sun said Creek’s attorney Eugene Gorokhov did not respond to requests for comment.

Creek founded Triple-C around 2015 after leaving the Black Guerrilla Family gang, prosecutors said. They said the gang’s shops in east and northeast Baltimore sold heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, marijuana and other controlled substances, and that members were involved in witness intimidation, shootings and the killings of rival gang members.

Creek was charged in a 2019 federal criminal complaint with being the primary supplier of drugs to the gang and other drug trafficking organizations. The new indictment alleges that Creek took on murder contracts and ordered gang members to carry them out, and that the Triple-C gang imposed a tax on certain drug traffickers to operate in its territory. Creek and another defendant are also charged in a 2016 slaying. Creek is accused of directing an attempted contract hit in 2018.