Casey Gamble / Walker County Sheriff’s Office contributed photoLAFAYETTE, Ga. – As far as criminal organizations go, the fall of North Georgia’s Ghostface Gangster leaders came pretty simply.
Investigators did not tap phones for months, deciphering an intricate code for drug sales, drop offs and murders, like on “The Wire.” They didn’t prepare a wonky trial centered on tax evasion charges, like in “The Untouchables.”
Instead, Georgia Department of Community Supervision Officer Ryan Matthews scrolled through the cellphone of Casey Lee Gamble, who he said was one of three local leaders of the Ghostface Gangsters. Because Gamble, 27, was on parole for a methamphetamine manufacturing conviction, Matthews was free to stop by his house to check-in on him – and his technology.
Matthews said he found videos from August and September that showed “beat-ins” and “violations,” supposed signs of an organized gang. Like a fraternity with harder drugs, the “beat-ins” show current members attacking recruits as a form of initiation. The “violations” are beatings for breaking gang rules.
Matthews, along with the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, built a case around the videos. They also relied on Facebook photos of some members flashing gang signs, as well as interviews with members. In November, the circuit’s drug task force arrested Gamble and 15 other people for violating the state’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.