LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville's gang culture has been an unspoken reality for years, a taboo subject that few publicly recognized but many knew wreaked havoc on underserved youth. Lately, a surge in violent crime in recent years — several with more than 150 homicides, per police data — has brought the gang conversation front and center for city leaders and federal law enforcement.
Louisville Metro Police leadership speaks openly about their fight to keep kids out of gangs. Community activists, the ones on the streets trying desperately to keep teenagers on the right path, join a growing chorus hoping for change.
And the FBI, whose Louisville field office spends valuable resources fighting the scourge of gun thefts, drug trade and more in Louisville, said the gang violence is "all around us."
"We estimate that approximately 30% of our significant violent crime is attributable to violent gangs," said Supervisory Special Agent Joseph Hamski, who works on FBI Louisville's Gangs and Violent Crime Squad. "We estimate that approximately 25-30 gangs exist and operate in the Louisville area."
Hamski said some of the larger gangs in the city have 75-100 people in them, with the average age person being 20 years old. He said some of the gangs have kids in them as young as 13 years old, involved in gun trafficking, robberies, burglaries and home invasions.
"What we typically have are neighborhood-based gangs that have very little affiliation or zero affiliation with the larger gangs," Hamski said. "And they are named after certain areas of Louisville."
The FBI has been investigating several well-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 from 20 to 33 years old — were indicted on various drug charges, including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth, fentanyl, cocaine and heroin. LMPD and the FBI touted the arrests as a big step toward "trying to dismantle a pretty entrenched criminal organization" which is fueled by drug money.
However, Hamski said the gangs don't die with these types of arrests. There are more people willing and ready to take their spots and continue the violence.
"That's unfortunately the pervasive nature of gangs," he said. "When you indict and prosecute and hold 10 responsible, it creates opportunity for others to move into those areas, as well as those positions within the group."
And two people connected to EST were recently murdered, one outside a popular strip of bars on Baxter Avenue. Michael Bachelor Jr., a known rapper who went by the name EST Lu Mike and performed earlier this year at the KFC Yum! Center with EST Gee, was shot and killed outside O'Shea's Irish Pub early Aug. 11.
A few weeks earlier, at that concert at the KFC Yum! Center, LMPD had extra patrols knowing a lot of gang members would be around the area for EST Gee's performance. A few hours after the show, DeVontae Beach, 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 to at least 2020. Kevon Lawless was convicted of murdering Brandon Waddles and his 3-year-old daughter Trinity Randolph. After his arrest in August 2020, Lawless' bond was set at $1 million. But a judge lowered it to $300,000 full cash days after his arraignment and ordered him to be on home incarceration if the bond was paid. New York record producer Nigel Talley posted 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 tactics to monitor gangs involves listening to some of these songs.
"We often see that in song lyrics, rap lyrics, different beefs between different groups and quarrels between different groups, whether that's stuff that's happening the past, stuff they've done or what's about to happen in the future," he said. "Those videos and those social media posts are absolutely monitored and looked at by the FBI and used in prosecution."
Lawless remains behind bars at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Kentucky.
"The goal will always be to dismantle the entire organization," Hamski said.
And the arrests haven't been limited to EST in recent years. In September 2023, two Louisville gang members were charged with federal firearms offenses. Virgil Jackson, 20, of Louisville, was charged with possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. According to the investigators, Jackson is a member of the Jack Gang.
And Dacorey Hodges, 19, also from Louisville, was charged with possessing a firearm while being a fugitive from justice. Investigators said he is a member of Cali to Victory, a subset of the Victory Park Crips gang. Both gangs have been identified by law enforcement as violent street gangs operating in Louisville.
The complaint alleged that early on the morning of Sept. 4, 2023, a drive-by shooting occurred at the Waffle House located at 2805 Fern Valley Road in Louisville. Investigators said a woman was shot in the foot. Investigators were able to review video recordings from the Waffle House surveillance cameras and said they identified Jackson and Hodges as two of the people who fired weapons.
'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 projects so I was surrounded by a lot of the trauma, a lot of the things that was going on in the community still today," he said. "And at some point, I joined into it myself."
Nowadays, Hall said man of the people in that gang are now either in jail or dead.
"It's very dangerous if you live that life," he said.
He admits now he didn't find that love in the streets. But one day, there was a wake-up call. On March 8, 2016, he was shot several times, leaving him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. He said it was the second time he'd been shot in six months.
"I think that's when it sunk in," he said. "It's really time to get it together."
Since being shot, Hall has changed his life, his friends and his surroundings. He's now a student at Simmons College of Kentucky. And he has this message for those still on the streets.
"If your future is the graveyard or the penitentiary, you're going to choose gangster," he said. "If you want to see greatness, you've got to surround yourself with greatness."
Hamski said the FBI needs the public's help to take control of the problem.
"The only way a violent gang is eradicated is if we have help from the community," he said. "They are involved. Call us and notify us."
The FBI, whose Louisville field office spends valuable resources fighting the scourge of gun thefts, drug trade and more in Louisville, said the gang violence is "all around us."
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