Cobb County Police and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta announced Tuesday that 23 members of the “Ghostface Gangsters” criminal ring have been indicted on racketeering and other federal, state and local charges, including attempted murder, drug trafficking and wire fraud, as well as attacks on law enforcement.
A 21-count federal grand jury indictment against 23 defendants issued on Feb. 8 was revealed at Cobb Police headquarters in Marietta. Cobb and federal authorities say the Ghostface Gangsters originated in the Cobb County Jail in 2000 and their ranks grew in other state jails and prisons to include several thousand members over the years.
Nine members of the gang were charged with racketeering. Twenty defendants were already in custody when the indictments were announced, and several are from Cobb County.
The wide-ranging criminal activity the defendants are charged with include kidnapping, drug trafficking, attempted murder, witness tampering and a variety of firearms crimes.
“The recent federal indictments of this dangerous gang demonstrates how effective and important interagency collaboration is between federal, state, and local partners, and also demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement entities at every level to keep the communities across this nation as safe as possible,” Cobb police chief Mike Register said at Tuesday’s press briefing.
The racketeering defendants include Jeffrey Alan Bourassa, 35, of Cobb, a founder of the gang, who also is charged with kidnapping and maiming another gang member, as well as Kevin Scott Sosebee, 27, also of Cobb, charged with the attempted murder of a Cobb police officer.
Sosebee is charged with shooting at a Cobb police officer in December in Mableton after a traffic stop, and then fleeing the scene.
Another defendant, Victor Manuel Dejesus, is charged with a violent carjacking and attempted murder of a motorist in Smyrna in July 2016, and in fleeing that crime is alleged to have shot at a Cobb deputy sheriff who was in pursuit.
“The Ghostface Gangsters gang is very violent and their members will not hesitate to shoot at anyone,” said Byung J. “BJay” Pak, the U.S. Attorney in Atlanta. “We are partnering with local and state law enforcement agencies, including the Georgia Department of Corrections, to stop this criminal enterprise. If convicted, the defendants will be removed to federal facilities all across the United States.”
In addition to Cobb Police, Marietta Cobb Smyrna/Cobb Anti-Gang Enforcement (CAGE), the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, the Marietta Police Department and the Cobb District Attorney’s Office have been involved in the investigation, along with law enforcement agencies in north Georgia and Tennessee.
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