PLANO, Texas — Twenty-seven suspects linked to a gang in Houston’s Fifth Ward are facing federal charges in a multi-state ATM robbery conspiracy, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Texas.
Prosecutors said the crimes span from August 2017 to January 2019, when the suspects allegedly conspired to participate in at least 47 strong-arm robberies of ATMs worth more than $2.7 million.
The robberies happened in the Dallas area, Texarkana, and multiple other cities throughout Texas, prosecutors said. There were also robberies Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois and Tennessee.
Prosecutors said the gang based in Fifth Ward is called the Market Street Money Gang, or MSMG.
Seven of the suspects were indicted on conspiracy and robbery charges in August 2018. Since then, the number of defendants has increased to 27.
The defendants could face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Brown called it “a large criminal enterprise” spanning a good part of the country.”
“They hurt people, scared people, and a lot of money was stolen,” Brown said. “The FBI and our state and local partners worked hard to put these cases together, and with the breadth of this conspiracy, that was a difficult task. We intend to make sure these people go to prison.”
Investigators busted members of the gang thanks to a crackdown in Houston.
In July 2017, the FBI’s violent crime initiative noticed a spike in robberies of people doing maintenance on ATMs. Crews even began targeting customers, according to Agent Conner Hagan of the Houston FBI Office.
The initiative, which includes officers from 10 law enforcement agencies, pushed banks to provide armed security for ATM technicians. As a result, crews involved in the conspiracy scattered. In their crimes, robbers never used guns. They attacked with brute force.
“There was pushing, shoving punching. There was physical violence. These were certainly violent offenses,” said Joseph Brown, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. “It hurt people. It hurt businesses. There was a lot of money taken from good businesses.”
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