Assistant U.S. attorneys Kristian Weir, from left, Albania Concepcion, acting U.S. attorney Joe Thompson, assistant U.S. attorneys Carla Baumel and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez pose for a portrait at the Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. ] LEILA NAVIDI • leila.navidi@startribune.com (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The kingdom of Minneapolis gangs is made up of loosely associated “cliques” defined more by their enemies than rivalries over defined territory.
“This is a neighborhood and a regional gang culture that has emerged here,” said Carla Baumel, assistant U.S. Attorney for Minnesota who helped prosecute members of the north Minneapolis gang, the Highs. “Not any less dangerous or any less violent or any less significant to the community but our gangs here in Minnesota just are structured a little bit differently,”
The web of cliques, federal prosecutors told the Minnesota Star Tribune, offered its most at-risk youth a sense of belonging.
“A lot of these young guys that I’m sentencing, that is a very similar pattern,” said Albania Concepcion, a federal prosecutor also part of the Highs racketeering prosecution. “The instability in their childhood, early childhood lives that lead to them seeking belonging somewhere else, and then they conflate the violence and the crime with the protection of the family unit that they’re looking for.”
Though the gangs offered the promise of a surrogate family, their motive was exploitative.
Belonging, court records describe, is shown by “putting in work,” or committing petty crimes, such as graffiti or fighting, on behalf of the gang. The offenses later escalate into violence on behalf of the gang.