Forty suspected members of the 23rd Street Gang in Fort Pierce, Florida, have been arrested after an 18-month investigation that authorities called “Operation Score Board,” St. Lucie County officials announced on Thursday, November 5. Investigators said they used Florida’s RICO law — the state’s racketeering statute — to connect years of alleged shootings, drug trafficking and other crimes to people they say belong to the gang. All of those arrested are suspects facing allegations; none of the claims has been proved in court.
The announcement was made in St. Lucie County, on Florida’s Treasure Coast, after officers executed multiple search warrants across the Fort Pierce area on Wednesday and made 11 arrests in that phase alone. Sheriff Richard Del Toro said 11 arrests were made this week, and that warrants were still out for two more people accused of criminal conspiracy involving fraud, drug trafficking and homicides, according to reporting by Newsradio WFLA. The wider operation, centred on northwest Fort Pierce and surrounding areas, brought the total number of arrests to nearly 40, the sheriff’s office said.
What officers say they seized
Authorities said they seized 18 guns, 20 pounds of marijuana and more than 500 grams of cocaine, as well as nearly $20,000 in cash, WFLA reported. Treasure Coast Today, reporting the same announcement, said officers also seized multiple firearms, drugs and thousands of dollars in cash during Wednesday’s warrants. Officials have not, in the reports reviewed for this story, published a full named list of every person arrested or a charge sheet for each individual, so this report does not name individual suspects.
A decade of violence, and a ‘scoreboard’
Fort Pierce Police Chief David Smith said the gang was behind nearly a hundred shootings over the past 10 years, and that detectives went back over a full decade of criminal activity to build the case. “Detectives conducted an extensive review of criminal activity spanning ten years, examining incidents and identifying connections between individuals associated with the gang,” Smith said. “This intensive analysis revealed a disturbing pattern of organized crime and violence.” Chief Smith said the name “Operation Score Board” came from investigators’ finding that gang members were themselves keeping score of shootings and homicides.
Sheriff Del Toro said the gang has between 70 and 80 members and has been responsible for years of violence in Fort Pierce — meaning the 40 arrests, if the sheriff’s membership estimate is right, account for roughly half of the group authorities describe. Del Toro said the gang’s activity had left Fort Pierce residents living in fear for a decade. “I’ve never seen an operation this large with this many agencies at the local and federal level,” he said. “I think this is going to have a significant generational impact in this community.”
Florida’s RICO law lets prosecutors charge an alleged pattern of organised crime as a connected enterprise, rather than treating every shooting, drug deal or fraud as a separate, unrelated case. That is why investigators spent 18 months — and reviewed 10 years of incidents — before making the arrests: the pattern itself is a central part of the allegation the state will have to prove.
Who took part, and what it means locally
The investigation involved multiple local and state law enforcement agencies, and, in Sheriff Del Toro’s description, agencies at the federal level as well. For residents of northwest Fort Pierce — the neighbourhoods where, authorities say, the gang operated for years — the immediate change is a large number of alleged members in custody and a visible warrant operation across the city. For the wider Treasure Coast, the case is a reminder that the violence officials described was not a series of isolated incidents, in their account, but organised activity they say ran for a decade.
What happens next
Two arrest warrants remain outstanding, according to Sheriff Del Toro, so more arrests are possible. Those already arrested will face court proceedings in St. Lucie County, where prosecutors will have to prove the RICO and conspiracy allegations — including the alleged links between individuals and the decade of incidents investigators reviewed. Authorities also said similar investigations and operations are expected in the future. Anyone arrested is presumed innocent unless and until they are convicted, and the gang-membership and shooting claims in this report are allegations made by law enforcement, not findings of a court.
Sources: Newsradio WFLA / iHeart reporting of the St. Lucie County announcement (November 6, 2026) and Treasure Coast Today (November 5, 2026), both reporting statements by St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro and Fort Pierce Police Chief David Smith.