Boston’s ‘largest’ gang bust nabs 41 leaders from ‘most feared’ gang

Law enforcement officials say they’ve netted and dismantled the upper ranks of the most powerful and influential gang to hold weight in the streets of Boston.

Over 500 federal, state and local officers kicked down doors with over 30 federal search warrants early Thursday morning and hauled in 31 guns, 15 cars including a Maserati, a Mercedes Benz and an Audi, narcotics and about $1.5 million in stacks of cash. They lassoed 41 of the 48 leaders and charged them on six indictments with various gun and drug charges. There are seven fugitives in connection to this investigation.

The big bust came after a two-year-long wiretap investigation dubbed “Operation Rising Tide.”

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz called the Columbia Point Dawgs crime organization the most feared gang in Boston, responsible for decades worth of violence and drug trafficking. The FBI, DEA, Suffolk County District Attorney, U.S. Attorney, U.S. Marshals and the Boston Police worked together to take down criminal operations in connection to the Columbia Point Dawgs in Boston, Quincy, Randolph, Tewksbury as well as New York City, Maine and Georgia.

“This is a good day for the city,” Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans said. “It’s our job to stop the violence on the streets. It sends a message that if you want to get involved with this kind of activity, we will get you.”

An FBI affidavit alleges that members of the Columbia Point Dawgs ran narcotics by the kilos, guns by the trunkload and committed enough violence to keep other gangs at bay.

Founded in the late 1980s, the Columbia Point Dawgs , or “the Point,” started as a four-family crime operation who grew tired of the Detroit-based “Bomb Boys” running the show in the Columbia Point Housing Development projects and sent them packing by means of a violent push.

The Point expanded into Roxbury and Mattapan as they gained momentum in turf battles. Over the years, the Point is said to have trafficked guns and drugs from Boston to Maine, specializing in heroin, cocaine, crack and Oxycontin distribution.

FBI Special Agent Vincent Lisi said that The Point members have a heavy hand in the Bay State’s ongoing heroin epidemic.

“The magnitude of this operation is really something else,” Lisi said. “This has to be one of, if not the, largest gang busts in Boston’s history.”

Omerta and intimidation kept witnesses quiet, killing many passed cases against Point members.

Point members were tied to several high-profile killings throughout the 1990s, including when one of their members was killed by gunfire while riding in Whitney Houston’s Bentley with her husband, Bobby Brown.