Federal, state and local agents fanned out across northwest Fort Pierce before dawn on Nov. 4, serving five search warrants in a sweeping crackdown on an alleged street gang that investigators say has left a trail of violence across St. Lucie County for years. By the time the operation wrapped, officials announced dozens of arrests, seized firearms and drugs, and a conspiracy case tying more than a dozen people to fraud, drug trafficking, shootings and homicides.
The investigation, dubbed Operation Score Board, focused on alleged activity by the 23rd Street Gang in and around Fort Pierce, according to CBS12. The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office led the effort, with the Fort Pierce Police Department participating alongside the ATF, FBI, DEA, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Security Investigations, the station reported. In a post on X, DEAMiami
named the sheriff's office, Fort Pierce Police Department, FBI, ATF and HSI as partners.
Accounts of exactly how long the investigation ran differ. CBS12 described it as a nearly two-year probe, while DEAMiami's announcement characterized it as an 18-month investigation. Either way, the scale of what agents say they uncovered was substantial: officials said investigators linked 13 people to an alleged criminal conspiracy involving fraud, drug trafficking, shootings and homicides, per the station's reporting.
Dawn Raids Across Two Cities
On Nov. 4, officers served five search warrants beginning around 5 a.m. — four in Fort Pierce and one in Port St. Lucie, the station reported. That day's operation alone yielded seven firearms, about a pound of marijuana, 15 grams of cocaine, 50 grams of MDMA and $18,474 in cash, according to the same account.
The station also reported that the broader operation led to 11 arrests on racketeering charges, with two more people still wanted on warrants, plus four additional arrests made on probable cause. CBS12 separately put the overall arrest count at nearly 40, while DEAMiami's post describing the investigation cited 44 arrests. Reported totals for seized firearms also diverge: the station said police seized 18 firearms, 20 pounds of marijuana, 532 grams of cocaine and two grams of MDPV across the full investigation, while DEAMiami's figures referenced 12 firearms seized, along with five kilograms of fentanyl and nearly $250,000 in currency and assets. It is not clear from available reporting whether these differing tallies reflect different time windows or counting methods.
A Decade of Violence Under Review
Fort Pierce Police Chief David Smith said investigators reviewed ten years of criminal activity and connected people associated with the gang to nearly 100 shootings, according to CBS12's reporting. Officials also said roughly 70 to 80 people are documented as gang members, the station reported — a figure that underscores the scope investigators say they were working to untangle.
This is not the first time St. Lucie County law enforcement has mounted a large-scale push against gang and drug activity in the area. In 2017, the sheriff's office ran a six-month crackdown in Fort Pierce that resulted in more than five dozen arrests and 50 guns seized, per the station's earlier reporting. A separate investigation conducted with the DEA, reported by WPBF, followed a six-month probe and resulted in seven arrests along with the seizure of nearly 2.75 pounds of fentanyl from a Fort Pierce smoke shop called Smoking Buds.
Officials have not released court documents, defendants' identities, or additional detail on the status of charges stemming from Operation Score Board beyond what agencies described at the press conference. The scale of the alleged conspiracy — and the discrepancies between agencies' public accounts of arrests, weapons and cash seized — may become clearer as the case moves through the courts.
