Memphis gangs “are falling apart” and entire gang networks are “without any sort of direction,” according to Memphis Safe Task Force officials.
While not the focus of last Monday’s roundtable, gangs were a key point of discussion for many on the panel. Hundreds of Memphis gang members have been arrested, they said, including key gang leaders. Even the set of the roundtable was decorated with guns seized from gangs and boxes labeled “D.E.A. evidence,” which they said were taken from “violent gang members.”
At least 48 gangs operated in Memphis in 2024, according to the latest public data. That’s what the Memphis Police Department’s Multi-Agency Gang Unit (MGU) told Memphis City Council members at the time.
By December 2025, the Task Force reported it had arrested more than 400 gang members. These included members of the Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Young Mob, Los Serranos, Tren de Agua (TDA), EBK (Everybody Killa), Piru Bloods, Grape Street Crips, Kings Gate Mafia, and other factions of Bloods and Crips, among additional gangs.
Those groups were tied to drug trafficking, firearms offenses, and violent crimes such as assaults, robberies, and homicides. They were also tied to organized criminal activity like extortion, racketeering, and turf conflicts, “all of which have contributed and fueled high rates of violent crime.”
Since then, a total of 770 gang members have been arrested, according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Those arrests were made on 757 charges of gang-related offenses, said Gadyaces Serralta, Director of U.S. Marshals.
Gangs were the focus in Memphis for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), according to its Deputy Director Robert Cekada.
“So much so that we’ve … decapitated the leadership of the Rich and Ruthless Gang and the Vice Lords gangs operating here in Memphis,” he said. “Their leadership, their membership is currently running the streets without any sort of direction.
“The gang members are falling apart. Their ability to coordinate and commit violent crimes [has] broken down because of the Memphis Safe Task Force.”
Cekada pointed to the items on stage Monday saying they were, “used by the gang members to terrorize this community and commit numerous homicides and numerous aggravated assaults.”
The Task Force was not an “immigration-led operation,” according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Todd Lyons. However, in that same sentence, Lyons said of the 619 “illegal aliens” that were arrested in the operation, seven of them were known TDA gang members from Venezuela.
An example of the MPD working alongside the Task Force on gangs was the Operation All Off Boyd Round Two in November. In it, MPD’s Organized Crime Unit worked with the Task Force to execute search warrants in the 500 block of Boyd Street, an area of South Memphis they said was known for persistent drug and gang activity.
The operation yielded eight arrests, the recovery of one firearm, the seizure of over four pounds of marijuana, and more than $1,000 in cash.
“Operations like this show our commitment to pushing back against the drivers of violent crime in our neighborhoods,” MPD Chief C.J. Davis said at the time. “When we remove drugs, guns, and repeat offenders from our streets, we are taking meaningful steps toward a stronger, safer Memphis.
“I am proud of the teamwork shown by our Organized Crime Unit and our partners with the Memphis Safe Task Force.”
The operation highlighted interagency collaboration, according to Ryan Guay, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal and spokesperson for the Memphis Safe Task Force.
“Through these joint efforts, drugs, guns, and repeat offenders are being removed from Memphis neighborhoods, and together we are building safer communities for Memphis families,” he said.