Jessica Tezoquipa, news editor

12 people linked to the “Family Mob” gang in Minneapolis were arrested as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), local and federal law enforcement led a drug bust. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen states the people arrested and associated with the Family Mob are “important players in the open-air drug market of south Minneapolis along Lake Street,” according to CBS News.

This street gang was operating an open-air drug market focused near Lake Street and Chicago Avenue in a stretch called “The Wall” with officials saying they distributed thousands of fentanyl pills daily, disguised as oxycodone, according to the Minneapolis Times. According to CBS News, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated that investigations started after two mass shootings related to the “Family Mob” injured 10 and killed two others near I-35W and Lake Street, which happened within less than 12 hours of each other in Sept. of last year. In 2025, feds removed 221 pounds of methamphetamine, 40 pounds of cocaine and 26 pounds of fentanyl, according to Sheriff Dawanna Witt. “I think it’s important to talk about those things, because what we’re talking about today, we don’t hear enough about the impact that our law enforcement agencies are having in these communities. And where there are drugs, we also know that there are usually guns. In 2025, our teams were effective in confiscating 700 illegally possessed firearms. And a lot of those were connected with drugs,” says Hennepin County Sheriff Witt, according to Fox9. 

“Since the 1990s, this gang has conspired to deliver deadly narcotics to our neighborhoods and ushered in violence to aid in the efforts to claim control over their so-called territory,” Interim Special Agent in Charge of Minneapolis Field office Rick Evanchec said, according to CBS News. 

“I feel like there is a lot you could do, and you shouldn’t do when you’re cracking down on those things to avoid turning a city street like Lake Street into a war zone. There seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes that I don’t know, but it would be nice to know more and to be kept in the loop. There is an amount of anxiety that can be raised in people for just knowing that kind of thing is happening, and it is not ‘over’ now,” shared Augsburg student Aksel Grover. 

Members of the “Family Mob” worked in shifts, working to have a 24-hour market on the street to drive sales. Feds used undercover buys, surveillance and wiretaps to map out a hierarchy of the Family Mob, which they claim used threats of retaliation and violence to control their territory, according to the Minneapolis Times. Out of the 12 charges, five are facing federal counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, others face various charges ranging from illegal firearm possession to distribution of fentanyl. 

If convicted, mandatory minimum sentencing has defendants facing 10 years in federal prison.