Ten alleged top members of an infamous East Coast gang, including four people from Broward County, have been arrested after a years-long investigation of crimes that spanned across the state of Florida.
Detectives with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Gang Task Force and numerous other Florida law enforcement agencies over the past three years identified “statewide leadership” of Sex Money Murder, known as SMM, which is a Bloods-affiliated gang. Two “command-level members” lived in Broward County, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday.
The gang members are accused of unlawful trafficking of firearms, trafficking of narcotics, fraud, planning or directing activities related to a criminal gang and conspiracy to commit homicide. During the investigation, detectives found a “kill list” with intended victims of gang members and alerted them, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Four men from Broward County who were allegedly involved and were arrested are Damian Thompson, 31, of Pembroke Pines; Ridge Wietsma, 33, of Lauderhill; Quam’ani Floyd, 30, of Dania Beach; and Hank Edwards, 30, of Lauderdale Lakes, according to BSO.
Thompson, Wietsma and Floyd were all arrested in Broward County but were held in the Highlands County jail in Sebring as of Friday. Edwards was charged while already in custody in Miami-Dade County and remains there, county jail records show.
The 10 arrests came as a result of “a coordinated and sweeping statewide operation” after arrest warrants were filed in March and April. Homes in Pembroke Pines, Lauderhill, and Hastings, located in St. Johns County, were searched, leading to the recovery of guns, trafficking amounts of narcotics and gang paraphernalia, the Sheriff’s Office said.
All 10 suspects were charged in Highlands County and will be tried there. The Sheriff’s Office did not provide further details about the investigation, which involved six other county sheriff’s offices, FBI SWAT and other federal and statewide agencies.
Court records were not available Friday.
The others arrested during the investigation are:
- Gene Rowe Jr, 27, of Gainesville, arrested in Alachua County;
- Bruce Garniss, 21,of Gainesville, charged while in custody in Alachua County;
- Deaunte Boyd, 31, of Winter Haven, charged while in custody in Polk County;
- Richard Rivera, 28, of Winter Haven, arrested in Polk County;
- Darling Siplin III, 26, of DeBary, charged while in custody in Seminole County;
- Andrew Mariano, 23, of Hastings, arrested in St. Johns County.
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office in 2022 announced the arrest of 13 SMM members, all but two who were “the main state leadership” in the Florida section of the gang.
Part of the investigation focused on a scheme to smuggle synthetic cannabinoids into at least three state prisons by spraying the drugs onto pages of Bibles, Qurans and greeting cards that were then mailed to gang members inside the prisons, according to a news release at the time. Investigators recovered a total street value of more than $1.5 million of narcotics during that investigation and seized 18 guns.