A federal crackdown has put nearly 80 gang members behind bars in Minneapolis over the past year and a half.

The U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Andrew Luger, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS his office made a strong commitment in 2022 to stop the rise in violent crimes in Minneapolis and that included targeting dangerous gangs.

“I reached out to Washington because they have expertise,” said Luger. “There are gang prosecution experts in D.C. at the Department of Justice.”

Luger said three specific gangs were the focus of the investigation, and at one point, he put those extra prosecutors to work in three separate so-called war rooms.

“This is what I saw when I was a kid in Brooklyn as a prosecutor; there were five mafia families and there were five rooms,” said Luger. “And, if you went into those rooms, you saw five prosecutors and agents working on a particular family and it’s always had an impact on me. So, I thought, let’s do that here. We got three gangs, let’s get the rooms and let’s put people in them.”

Those efforts have led to federal charges against nearly 80 gang members in a little over a year and a half.

“And that included the carjackings, gun cases, fentanyl cases and automatic machine gun cases,” said Luger.

Luger also told KSTP the fentanyl problem is rising at an alarming rate and it’s now one of his top priorities.

“I keep my top priorities right on the whiteboard so I think about them every day when I come in and every day when I leave the office,” said Luger. “Fentanyl is one of the top priorities. It is hurting our state so badly.”