According to the FBI, nearly 30 gangs in Louisville are responsible for 30% of the violent crime in the city | WDRB investigates

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Gang culture in Louisville has been an unspoken reality for years, a taboo subject that few acknowledged publicly but many knew had devastating effects on underprivileged youth. More recently, a rise in violent crime in recent years — there have been more than 150 murders in several cases, according to police data — has brought the gang discussion to the forefront of city leaders and federal law enforcement.

Louisville Metro Police leadership is speaking openly about their struggle to keep youth out of gangs, and community activists on the streets desperately trying to steer youths in the right direction are joining a growing chorus hoping for change.

And the FBI, whose Louisville field office devotes valuable resources to fighting gun theft, drug trafficking and other ills in Louisville, said gang violence is “all around us.”

“We estimate that about 30% of our significant violent crime is attributable to violent gangs,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph Hamski, who works for the FBI's Gangs and Violent Crime Squad in Louisville. “We estimate that there are about 25 to 30 gangs in existence and active in the Louisville area.”

Hamski said some of the larger gangs in the city have 75 to 100 members, with the average age being 20. He said some gangs include children as young as 13 who are involved in gun trafficking, robberies, burglaries and home invasions.

“What we typically have are neighborhood-based gangs that have little to nothing to do with the larger gangs,” Hamski said. “And they're named after specific areas of Louisville.”

The FBI is investigating several known gangs in the area, including the Victory Park Crips, O-Block and EST, which stands for Everybody Shine Together. In October 2021, 10 members of EST – ranging in age from 20 to 33 – were charged with various drug offenses, including conspiracy to possess meth, fentanyl, cocaine and heroin with the intent to distribute. LMPD and FBI called the arrests a big step in “trying to dismantle a fairly entrenched criminal organization” funded by drug money.

Hamski said, however, that such arrests do not kill off the gangs. There are still more people ready and willing to take their place and continue the violence.

“That's the pervasive nature of gangs, unfortunately,” he said. “If you indict, prosecute and hold 10 accountable, it opens up the opportunity for others to move into those areas and take those positions within the group.”

And two people associated with EST were recently murdered, one of them outside a popular bar strip on Baxter Avenue. Michael Bachelor Jr., a well-known rapper who performed under the name EST Lu Mike and performed with EST Gee at the KFC Yum! Center earlier this year, was shot and killed outside O'Shea's Irish Pub early on August 11.

A few weeks earlier, at that concert at the KFC Yum! Center, Louisville police had deployed extra patrols because they knew many gang members would be in the area to see EST Gee perform. A few hours after the show, DeVontae Beach, who was listed on social media as EST Gee's booking agent, was found shot to death in downtown Louisville.

Beach's mother said her son and EST Gee played football together at St. Xavier High School.

And the ties to EST go back at least to 2020. Kevon Lawless was convicted of murdering Brandon Waddles and his three-year-old daughter Trinity Randolph. After his arrest in August 2020, Lawless' bail was set at $1 million. However, a judge lowered it to $300,000 cash a few days after his arraignment and ordered that he would go on house arrest if he paid bail. New York record producer Nigel Talley wired the $300,000 on July 10, 2021. Talley is identified in a Billboard article as EST Gee's manager.

Hamski said part of the FBI's tactic for monitoring gangs is to listen to some of these songs.

“We see this a lot in song lyrics, rap lyrics, different arguments between different groups and arguments between different groups, whether it's about things that happened in the past, things they've done, or what's going to happen in the future,” he said. “These videos and these social media posts are absolutely monitored and reviewed by the FBI and used in law enforcement.”

Lawless is behind bars at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Kentucky.

“The goal will always be to destroy the entire organization,” Hamski said.

And arrests haven't been limited to EST in recent years. In September 2023, two Louisville gang members were charged with gun law violations. Virgil Jackson, 20, of Louisville, was charged with possession of a firearm after being convicted of a felony. According to investigators, Jackson is a member of the Jack Gang.

And Dacorey Hodges, 19, also of Louisville, was charged with possession of a firearm while fugitive from justice. Investigators said he was a member of Cali to Victory, a subset of the Victory Park Crips gang. Both gangs have been identified by police as violent street gangs active in Louisville.

The complaint alleged that a drive-by shooting occurred at the Waffle House at 2805 Fern Valley Road in Louisville early in the morning of September 4, 2023. Investigators said a woman was shot in the foot. Investigators were able to review video footage from the Waffle House's security cameras and said they identified Jackson and Hodges as two of the people who fired guns.

“Most are dead”

When Kaelin Hall joined a gang in Louisville, he said he was looking for love. After a standout basketball career at Moore High School, Hall turned to the streets.

“I grew up in the public housing, so I was surrounded by a lot of trauma, a lot of things that are still happening in the community today,” he said. “And at some point I was involved in it myself.”

Today, Hall said, many members of this gang are either in prison or dead.

“It is very dangerous to live such a life,” he said.

Today he admits that he didn't find that love on the streets. But one day he got a wake-up call. On March 8, 2016, he was shot multiple times, leaving him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. He said it was the second time he had been shot in six months.

“I think that's when I realized it,” he said. “It's really time to get this thing sorted out.”

Since the shooting, Hall has changed his life, his friends and his community. He is now a student at Simmons College in Kentucky. And he has this message for those still on the streets.

“If your future is the cemetery or the prison, you're going to choose the gangster,” he said. “If you want to see great things, you have to surround yourself with great things.”

Hamski said the FBI needs the public's help to get the problem under control.

“A violent gang can only be eradicated with the help of the population,” he said. “You are involved. Call us and notify us.”

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