Several Jamaicans are said to be among 300 suspected members of street gangs arrested in Florida in the US.Federal immigration agents Thursday announced that they had arrested 321 persons many of whom are immigrants.According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, those arrested operated from Lake Worth to Miami and were associated with various gangs.Some of those arrested are from the United States, but most are from Jamaica and other countries including Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia and Chile.
The sweep included one man who was deported for criminal activity, but returned to the US.Federal agents did not release the names of those arrested, but said they are being held in various jails or out on bail.The suspects are charged with various racketeering, gun, drug and parole violations.

The seven men indicted this week on drug and racketeering charges are part of a violent gang that called itself "773" after the address on Thigpen Road in Gadsden County where they grew up, investigators said.New details on the gang surfaced Thursday during a news conference at the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office. Also, state officials announced a new initiative to crack down on gang activity.The gang members have been tied to at least three homicides, said Lt. Jim Corder. Also, investigators believe the gang was bringing up kilos of cocaine from South Florida each month. At one point, the gang controlled all the street-level drug trade in Sawdust, a rural community of about 500 to 700 residents seven miles outside Quincy.
And the gang is involved in drag racing in the county, but it has been difficult for law enforcement to catch them in the act."It happens very quickly, (and) it happens at undisclosed locations," he said.The Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement seized cash and several accessorized vehicles with a total value of about $200,000 with the help of the U.S. Marshal Service, Florida Capitol Police and the State Attorney's Office.Five of the gang members were arrested this week. Another two are at-large and wanted. The seven are ringleaders and the original members of the gang, Corder said.The men were indicted last month in Orange County by a statewide grand jury on charges of criminal racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and conspiracy to traffic in marijuana, authorities announced Wednesday. Those arrested are Terrance Shorter, 28; Quintarius Shorter, 25; Gabriel James, 26; Aaron Thomas, 29; and Daltonica Shorter, 33. Chief Judge Kathleen Kroll of West Palm Beach set bail at $1.5 million each. The men will be transported on an undisclosed date to Orange County, where they will be tried, Corder said.James and Quintarius Shorter are also facing first-degree murder charges in connection with the 2001 shooting death of Travis Sentel Green, 21. The gang also is suspected of being behind the 2004 shooting death of Melvin Lamar Northern, 24.Investigators are still looking for suspected gang member Ladipo "Chad" Bethea, who's wanted on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of a Huntsville, Ala., man. The man was shot Jan. 13 after an illegal street race in Birmingham. Investigators haven't identified the other wanted gang member.The indictments were the result of a three-year probe that began when investigators decided to take a closer look at cold-case murders in Gadsden County, said FDLE Special Agent Supervisor Chris Hirst.Now, deputies are working with school officials to keep young people from joining the gang. "Wannabes" as young as 13 are being initiated, which usually means they're beaten for several minutes and then required to commit a crime, from a home-invasion robbery to battery.FDLE will be forming a Gang and Habitual Offender Strike Team to combat gang-related crime, which isn't limited to Gadsden County."Gangs are on the rise all across the area," Hirst said. "There are other gangs similar to this one that have been operating for some time."

Eric Burton became a public eyesore at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday when five digital billboards began broadcasting his face across Central Florida.
The faces of the region's most notorious fugitives will reach tens of thousands of motorists daily as part of an advertising push in support of Crimeline, the cash-for-tips crime-fighting program.
"It's absolutely huge for us," Crimeline coordinator Barb Bergin said after Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and police Chief Val Demings unveiled a billboard mock-up at police headquarters. "The more people who see them, the more cases we can help solve."
Burton, 32, is being sought in the New Year's Day killing of an Orange County man and the shootings of two teenagers.
He was last seen fleeing in a metallic-green 2002 Ford Mustang from the shooting outside a bar on South Rio Grande Avenue.
Images of Burton and other fugitives will alternate with conventional advertising on the billboards, which are owned by Clear Channel Outdoor. The company is donating the advertising space to Crimeline.
Arrested 42 times before, Burton is the sort of repeat felon targeted by another Crimeline program that Dyer discussed Wednesday.
"We are breaking the culture of silence," said the mayor, referring to an aggressive campaign offering $1,000 rewards to anyone who gives information leading to the confiscation of an illegal gun and an arrest with gun charges. "We've saved lives because Orlando residents have taken a stand against violent crime."
In the gun bounty's first year, Crimeline received 910 tips on criminals with guns in Orange County.
As of Wednesday, the program had agreed to pay $38,000 for gun tips last year. Not all of the rewards had been collected because some tipsters have not claimed the money.

Overall, tips to Crimeline in 2007 led to 1,199 arrests and cleared 1,372 criminal cases in the six-county Central Florida region, Bergin said.

The "WANTED" billboard campaign, which Clear Channel Outdoor runs in several cities, has produced numerous arrests in Philadelphia, Memphis and Indianapolis, according to police.

The Central Florida billboards are at the intersections of State Road 408 and Kirkman Road; Interstate 4 and Fairbanks Avenue; I-4 and Wymore Road; Semoran Boulevard and U.S. Highway 17-92; and S.R. 434 and U.S. 17-92.