<p>Sixteen people have been indicted in an alleged drug ring run by the Black Mafia Family, which came to Atlanta several years ago seeking legitimacy by infiltrating the hip-hop industry here, federal authorities said Wednesday.</p><p>The indictment charges them with taking part in a nationwide cocaine distribution conspiracy that engaged in violence while moving thousands of pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $270 million.</p><p>"The government is one step closer to eradicating one of today's most violent and notorious drug trafficking organizations," said Rodney G. Benson, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement office in Atlanta. "The Black Mafia Family wreaked havoc from coast to coast."</p><p>Seven of the 16 defendants were arrested Wednesday. The names of seven of the remaining nine defendants remained under seal because they are still being sought by law enforcement, officials said.</p><p>Local law enforcement learned the organization existed after a 2003 double homicide in Club Chaos in Buckhead when an associate of hip-hop mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Coombs and another man were both shot after the club closed early one morning.</p><p>Officials claim the enterprise's leader in Atlanta was Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory, while his brother, Terry "Southwest T" Flenory allegedly ran the organization's Los Angeles hub.</p><p>Federal authorities say the Flenorys went from selling $50 bags of crack in high schools in southwest Detroit in the mid-1980s to masterminding a criminal enterprise operating in 11 states.</p><p>The two men, now in federal custody, were arrested in 2005 with seven associates in the first flurry of indictments for drug trafficking.</p><p>The group once rented a billboard in Atlanta that said "The World is BMF's."</p><p>"The Black Mafia Family once had billboards towering over Atlanta boldly proclaiming that the world was theirs," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said. "This indictment is a rejection of that claim."</p><p>The defendants in the indictment unveiled Wednesday were: Lamar Fields, 39, of Atlanta; Victor Hammonds, 42, of Conyers; Franklin Nash, 56, of Decatur; Darryl Taylor, 46, of Stockbridge; Ramon Dobson, 27, of Lithonia; James Mitchell, 38, of East Orange, N.J.; and Dionne Beverly, 35, of Hurricane, W.Va.</p><p>Already in custody in other jurisdictions are Fleming Daniels, 34, of Roswell; and Derrek Pitts, 33, of Newark, N.J.</p><p>In a hearing in Atlanta Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Alan Baverman released Dobson and Nash on $25,000 bond and detained Taylor. Hammonds and Fields have a hearing scheduled for Friday.</p>
