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Federal prosecutors announced charges in an indictment Wednesday against seven Baltimore police officers for racketeering crimes including stealing money from civilians, reports the Associated Press via Yahoo News.

From Yahoo News:

The officers charged with racketeering are detectives Momodu Gondo, Evodio Hendrix, Daniel Hersl, Wayne Jenkins, Jemell Rayam, Marcus Taylor and Maurice Ward. Gondo also is charged with participating in a drug conspiracy. All were arrested, suspended without pay, and jailed overnight pending detention hearings on Thursday…

The explosive indictment reads more like a Hollywood movie script than a routine charging document, as the feds followed what they described as a squad of renegade officers committing brazen robberies and staging cover-ups to avoid detection by their supervisors. “These officers are 1930s-style gangers,” said Police Commissioner Kevin Davis. “They betrayed the trust we’re trying to build with our community at a very sensitive time in our history.”

…DeRay Mckesson, a Black Lives Matter activist from Baltimore, said the charges are disturbing, but also encouraging. “It is promising to see the beginning of accountability being applied to the Baltimore Police Department,” Mckesson said. “The indictments confirm what activists and community members have been saying for decades.”

Investigators said the crimes happened last year while the Department of Justice investigated the Baltimore Police Department for use of excessive force and other violations after the highly publicized death of Freddie Gray, reports NBC News.

SOURCE: Yahoo NewsNBC News

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WATCH: Video Of Baltimore Police Punching 16-Year-Old Surfaces, Triggers Outrage

DOJ: Baltimore Police Regularly Violate Constitutional Rights, Use Excessive Force Against Blacks

Baltimore Cops Accused Of Stealing, Faking Reports In Sweeping Federal Indictment  was originally published on newsone.com