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501 violent fugitives arrested in Operation Triple Beam

"We are completely focusing in on our violent criminals, documented gang members."

HOUSTON — U.S. Marshals and law enforcement officials from seven different agencies pounced on hundreds of gang members with open warrants.

During a press conference, authorities announced the arrest of 501 violent fugitives, 113 of which are documented gang members.

Authorities also seized 41 weapons, of which 30 will lead to criminal charges.

Officers also recovered 11.6 kilos of drugs, nine vehicles and $461,590 in cash.

KHOU 11 News followed a team of Marshals and Houston police officers for four hours as they searched southwest Houston for a wanted gang member.

He beat two murder cases, served prison time for organized crime, drugs and had a warrant for attacking a woman.

“He assaulted, I think, it’s a former girlfriend or baby mama,” an undercover officer said. “(It’s) One of the two. He went over to her place and she claims he strangled her. So we have some video.”

“He (was) also allegedly pimping out a younger white female on Bissonnet,” another undercover officer said.

“From everything that the westside investigator’s been saying, he’s a shot-caller even from jail.”

They caught him by surprise during a traffic stop on Bissonnet.

“Is that a news camera?” he yelled at officers.

“This is somebody during the operation that we are completely focusing on: Our violent criminals documented gang members,” Cameron Welch of the U.S. Marshals Service said.

“Operation Triple Beam” grabbed more than $1 million worth of drugs in 2018. Officers involved arrested 220 gang members during the operation. Many of that number were part of MS-13, a group President Donald Trump singled out for crime.

In Houston, with 20,000 people in gangs, the Marshals wanted more.

Their partners with HPD’s gang unit in North Shepherd and South Gessner patrol divisions showed us photos of new targets, gang tattoos, nicknames of known gang members linked to unsolved murders and shootings in southwest and north Houston.

“We’re trying to focus on both areas and put a dent in their operation,” Welch said.

The 90-day operation started in September. Just a few weeks in, Welch saw things heat up.

“(We had) maybe 15 pursuits,” Welch said. “We’ve been involved in two shootings. We’ve seized a whole bunch of narcotics. We had one gentleman jump out a third story apartment building who was wanted for murder.”

KHOU 11 News followed his team the day Tropical Storm Imelda blew in. They began the day going after a man wanted for felony injury to a child.

They did not find him. Instead, they discovered another wanted man.

“So there’s good and bad news here,” Welch said. “The bad news is we missed our target here. But the good news is we got two out of (the) house and the individual we got is a tagged gangster disciple. So we just got a documented gang member.”

A few days later, they grabbed a guy hiding four grams of crystal meth, a long list of aliases and possible ties to a drug cartel.

The man caught on Bissonnet, a member of the 52 Hoover Crips, ranked among their biggest gets. Still, it hardly closed the door on the Marshals' search for more.

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