Boston affiliates of rapper Benzino have been arrested in what is being called the biggest gang sweep in the city’s history.
In videos that pay homage to the neighborhood they left behind, alleged members of the Columbia Point Dawgs street gang bragged about making money and shooting at competitors — and tried to incite attacks on a rival gang, according to federal court documents.
Using the names 8 Bus Records and Waterboyz, alleged members and associates have used YouTube as an outlet for their rap videos, which has led to gunfire on the streets of Boston and to the kidnapping of one of its members by a rival gang, according to an FBI affidavit.
The gang was the target of a massive law enforcement sweep Thursday morning, one of the biggest in the city’s history. Federal prosecutors charged 48 people in six indictments with a range of gun and drug crimes, some carrying minimum punishments of 20 years in prison. By Friday, 42 of the suspects had been arrested; authorities said they were still pursuing six. The FBI considers them dangerous.
Some members of the Dawgs have artistic connections to Raymond Scott, the Dorchester native better known as Benzino, the former star of VH1’s popular reality show, Love & Hip Hop Atlanta. Scott has his musical roots in the Almighty RSO, a group infamous to police in the Boston area for a 1990s song called, “One in the Chamba.’’
Scott was shot and wounded, allegedly by his 36-year-old nephew, Gai Scott, during the funeral procession of Raymond Scott’s mother on Route 3 on March 30, 2014. Raymond Scott wrote a song, “Blood on my Watch’’ about the incident. Gai Scott has pleaded not guilty.
