Partnerships with the FBI and other federal agencies helped local Baton Rouge law enforcement make more than 100 gang-related arrests this summer.
The operation, which focused on four local gangs and their respective neighborhoods, seized more than 100 firearms, dozens of Machine Gun Conversion Devices, and nearly $250,000 in cash over four months.
"We targeted the Vultures, Bleedas, 60 Gang and TBG gangs, whose members are responsible for murders, drug trafficking and robberies across the city of Baton Rouge," said Jonathan Tapp, special agent in charge of the FBI's New Orleans field office. "We hit hardest in the four neighborhoods they call home."
The Zion City, Banks, Glen Oaks and Dixie neighborhoods were outlined on a map of Baton Rouge that Tapp referred to.
The FBI brought in agents and intelligence analysts from the agency's "violent crime rapid deployment team" to join FBI staff already permanently posted in Baton Rouge.
The move coincided with the FBI's national Operation Summer Heat, which has the goal of "crushing violent crime across the streets of our nation," Tapp said.
"Together we carried out 34 law enforcement operations targeting multiple locations in this few months' time," Tapp said. "Most importantly, the majority of our operations were led by the men and women who know these streets best: troopers, officers, detectives and agents right here in Baton Rouge."
Video released by the FBI New Orleans Field Office showed parish sheriff's deputies receiving a predawn briefing alongside Louisiana State Police officers and FBI investigators.
In addition to the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted Baton Rouge police officers and sheriff's deputies in the summer gang-busting. Much of the efforts involved undercover stings to snare gun and drug runners.
"To do this, you have to get out there and meet people where they're at, meet the criminal elements where they're at," said Joshua Jackson, special agent in charge of the ATF's New Orleans Field Division. "And these undercover operations are very dangerous, they're very risky."
During such an operation in June, an ATF agent was shot and injured by a suspect outside of the Triple S Food Mart on Fairfields Avenue. Jackson said this was the only injury suffered in any of the summer's operations across all agencies.
ATF carried out 37 undercover operations in all.
Jackson said the partnerships between federal agencies and local law enforcement were organized by Gov. Jeff Landry, who brought them together for a "huddle" in late April.
The governor said Wednesday he was inspired by the past success of New Orleans' Troop Nola, which, beginning in early 2024, placed a team of dedicated State Police troopers in the city to fight violent crime.
"Our hope was always that the city of New Orleans' operations, the way that we did it, would give us a model that we could then replicate around the state of Louisiana," Landry said.
In addition to state and federal law enforcement, the governor was joined at the podium Wednesday by Mayor-President Sid Edwards, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse and District Attorney Hillar Moore.
Morse said earlier this year that combating the activity of criminal groups, like the Bleedas, is "manpower intensive," often requiring months of investigation. The partnerships this summer eased that burden, he said in July.
Landry said the partnerships between local and federal law enforcement will continue, and are ongoing in other cities in the state.
"Today, again, marks the beginning, not the end, of a constant operation that will continue until we see a severe reduction in violent crime," he said. "Our hope is that we don't have to do that anymore."