Attorney General Bill McCollum News Release
July 22, 2010
Media Contact: Jenn Meale
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Top 6 Gang Member Indicted, Arrested in South Florida
~ New charges added in superseding indictment against two original defendants ~
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw today announced a superseding indictment has been handed down against Top 6 gang members arrested in June 2008. The new indictment adds two narcotics-related charges against two original defendants and indicts a new defendant on numerous criminal charges, including criminal racketeering and attempted first-degree murder. Jimmy Gilles was arrested this afternoon on the charges included in the new indictment, which was handed down late last night by the Statewide Grand Jury.
Gilles will be charged with two count of attempted first-degree murder, both felonies which carry maximum sentences of life in prison; one count of racketeering and one count of conspiracy to commit racketeering, both first-degree felonies; one count of shooting into a building and one count of a delinquent in possession of a firearm, both second-degree felonies; and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, a third-degree felony. All of Gilles’ charges will be added to the predicate incidents supporting the charges of racketeering and criminal racketeering facing all of the gang members. Gilles’ bond has been set at more than $1.5 million.
The Top-6 gang is a violent Haitian group that has been connected to a number of murders, both as assailants and victims, as well as possession and sale of narcotics. Over the past two years the Violent Crime Task Force has investigated 41 shootings and 14 homicides, including the triple homicide in Lake Worth on March 27, 2007, directly related to this gang. Law enforcement has also attributed over 150 shootings, including the 2006 Christmas Eve shooting at the Boynton Beach Mall, to Top 6 over the same time period. This gang has been an extremely active and violent criminal enterprise in Palm Beach County for several years.
This indictment and arrest come after continued cooperation and work between the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the Office of Statewide Prosecution, and the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office. Twelve co-defendants were arrested in June 2008; two have already been convicted and sentenced to prison terms, and three others are cooperating with the Office of Statewide Prosecution.