YouTube video leads cops to drugs, guns, dead dog at Harvey home

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Harvey police arrested several alleged gang members for drug crimes and dogfighting after the young men bragged in a 40-minute YouTube video that they were selling drugs and staging dog fights. | Harvey Police Dept.

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - In a lengthy video posted on YouTube, a group of men appears to flash guns, smoke marijuana and sell drugs, and even brag about dog fighting and having a dead dog in the garage.

Harvey Police Department detectives who watched the video recognized several of the men as known gang members, leading to a raid of the home which turned up the guns and drugs, and led to three arrests, according to Sean Howard, a spokesman for the police department.

Detectives were made aware of the video, which seems to show several guns as well as marijuana and a possible drug deal, police said. Apparently produced at a home in Harvey, it “featured a well-known drug dealer and at least 20 known gang members from various southern Cook County communities,” Howard said.

“There are several people in the 40-minute video with guns and drugs,” Howard said. “The group even sold marijuana to an individual while the video was being recorded. The group boasted of dog fighting and admitted that there was a deceased dog in the garage. The dog died during a fight with another dog.”

Detectives obtained a search warrant for the items shown on the video, and raided the home in 100 block of West 158th Street about 4 a.m. Wednesday, Howard said.

A large amount of marijuana and several guns were confiscated, and the dead dog was found, along with two other “poorly-treated dogs,” Howard said. They also confiscated “a significant amount of a white substance, believed to be cocaine,” which is being analyzed by lab technicians.

Three gang members were taken into custody and charges are pending, Howard said.

Howard said “lead gang member in the video is known as ‘MONK’ ” and he was under house arrest at the time of the raid.

The video was taken down from YouTube on Wednesday afternoon.

***WARNING: This video contains explicit language and images. Watch at your own discretion***