More than a dozen people with alleged ties to a notorious white supremacist street gang are facing numerous gun and drug-related charges after a year-long joint investigation by Mounties and Edmonton police.
And more people with the White Boy Posse will face charges once the investigation — dubbed Project Gat — is completed, said RCMP Insp. Bob Simmonds with the province’s integrated response to organized crime.
The investigation resulted in several search warrants at three Edmonton homes and a business on 127 Avenue and 127 Street in Edmonton all within the last week, as well as another home in St. Albert.
The warrants resulted in police seizing dozens of guns, including 16 assault rifles, which were laid out for media to see during a news conference Thursday.
Police also seized $500,000 worth of cocaine, 3,000 ecstasy tablets, $310,000 in cash and a large quantity of stolen equipment, including a snowmobile.
Project Gat was launched after a number of drive-by shootings last year, including a very public shooting inside a restaurant in the city’s Chinatown on June 10, 2008, Simmonds said.
Edmonton police Insp. Kevin Galvin with the service’s organized crime branch said the gang is based in Edmonton and has links in several cities in northern and central Alberta and British Columbia.
The Posse, said Galvin, also has several known ties to other gangs, including the Hells Angels.
“The issue of violence on the streets of our communities is a very complex and wide-spread issue,” said Galvin.
“It’s tough to quantify the impact (these) charges and seizures will have today.”
Police also targeted the Posse in a police investigation — dubbed Project Goliath — that led to 17 known members arrested last March.
