LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. authorities have taken a longtime leader of a Los Angeles street gang who investigators say ran a “mafia-like” criminal enterprise that included murder, human trafficking and extortion while he also worked as an entertainment entrepreneur into custody Wednesday after a brief search, officials announced.
Eugene Henley Jr., known as “Big U,” was one of 18 members of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips charged in a federal complaint with a litany of federal crimes including drug trafficking, conspiracy, and firearms offenses, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement.
Ten gang members were arrested this week while Henley, 58, and one other were initially considered fugitives, the statement said. The FBI announced on X Wednesday evening that both had been taken into custody. Other defendants were already in custody.
Henley allegedly masterminded a criminal operation that investigators dubbed the “Big U Enterprise,” and is also suspected of embezzling donations to Developing Options, an anti-gang charity he founded but which prosecutors say he used “as a front for fraudulent purposes and to insulate its members from suspicion by law enforcement.”
He is suspected in the 2021 killing of an aspiring rap musician who was signed to his recording company, Uneek Music, according to prosecutors.
The rapper, identified in court documents as "R.W.," was allegedly shot and killed by Henley after he recorded a “defamatory song” about the gang leader at a Las Vegas studio, prosecutors said. R.W.'s body was found in a ditch off Interstate 15 in the Nevada desert.
Prosecutors said Henley ran the enterprise like a mob boss and used his stature and long-standing association with the Rollin’ 60s and other street gangs to intimidate businesses and individuals in Los Angeles.
“Not only did the enterprise expand its power through violence, fear, and intimidation, but it also used social media platforms, documentaries, podcasts, interviews, and Henley’s reputation and status as an ‘O.G.’ (original gangster) to create fame for — and stoke fear of — the Big U Enterprise, its members, and its associates,” the U.S. attorney's statement said.
Henley is accused of organizing criminal activity including extortion, robbery, trafficking and exploiting sex workers, fraud, and illegal gambling. In addition, he's suspected of submitting a fraudulent application for a COVID-19 pandemic relief loan for Uneek Music.
It wasn't known Wednesday if Henley has an attorney. If convicted, he could face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
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The story has been updated to correct that officials were searching for Henley and one other, not two.
This undated booking photo released by the U.S. Attorney Office of Los Angeles shows Eugene Henley, Jr., a.k.a. "Big U". (U.S. Attorney's Office Los Angeles via AP)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Air raid sirens have sounded in central Jerusalem and other parts of Israel after a missile launch from Yemen, the Israeli army announced.
The launch came hours after Israel said it intercepted another missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group.
The Iranian-backed Houthis resumed attacks on Israel this week following the collapse of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DEIR-AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes killed at least 85 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, according to local health officials. Hours later, Hamas fired three rockets at Israel without causing casualties, in the first such attack since Israel ended their ceasefire with a surprise bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday.
The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate an area in central Gaza near Khan Younis, saying it would operate there in response to rocket fire from Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military restored a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, that it had maintained for most of the war. It warned residents against using the main highway to enter or leave the north and said only passage to the south would be allowed on the coastal road.
It also announced an additional ground operation in northern Gaza near the already largely destroyed town of Beit Lahiya, where strikes have killed dozens over the past 24 hours.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to what remains of their homes in the north after a ceasefire took hold in January. Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering the truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages.
Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected a new proposal that departed from their signed agreement. The Trump administration, which took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire, has voiced full support for Israel.
More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The military said three rockets were fired out of Gaza on Thursday, with one intercepted and two falling in open areas. Hamas claimed the attack and said it had targeted Tel Aviv.
Earlier, the military said it intercepted a missile launched by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels overnight before it reached Israeli airspace, as air raid sirens and exploding interceptors were heard in Jerusalem. No injuries were reported. It was the second such attack since the United States began a new campaign of airstrikes against the rebels earlier this week.
One of the strikes on Gaza early Thursday hit the Abu Daqa family’s home in Abasan al-Kabira, a village just outside of Khan Younis near the border with Israel. It was inside an area the Israeli military ordered evacuated earlier this week, encompassing most of eastern Gaza.
The strike killed at least 16 people, mostly women and children, according to the nearby European Hospital, which received the dead. Those killed included a father and his seven children, as well as the parents and brother of a month-old baby who survived along with her grandparents.
“Another tough night,” said Hani Awad, who was helping rescuers search for more survivors in the rubble. “The house collapsed over the people’s heads.”
Israel’s military said Thursday that it killed the head of Hamas’ internal security apparatus in an airstrike in Gaza, where Israel says it has struck dozens of militant targets.
On Wednesday, Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern third of the territory from the south. The announcement about passage to the south indicated troops will soon retake full control over what is known as the Netzarim corridor, stretching from the border to the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel, which has also cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians, has vowed to intensify its operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 35 of whom are believed dead — and gives up control of the territory.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire agreement they reached in January after more than a year of mediation by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
Hamas, which does not accept Israel's existence, says it is willing to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms until Israel ends its decades-long occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the overnight strikes killed at least 85 people, mostly women and children. Zaher al-Waheidi, the official in charge of records for the ministry, said a total of 592 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Tuesday.
The Indonesian Hospital said it received 19 bodies after strikes in Beit Lahiya, near the border.
“It was a bloody night for the people of Beit Lahiya,” said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency service in northern Gaza, adding that rescuers were still searching the rubble from homes that were hit. “The situation is catastrophic.”
Beit Lahiya was heavily destroyed and largely depopulated during the first phase of the war before January’s ceasefire. On Wednesday, an Israeli strike on a gathering of mourners killed 17 people there, according to health officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration reiterated its support for Israel on Thursday.
“The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Hundreds of Israelis gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Thursday to protest his handling of the hostage crisis and his plan to fire the country’s head of internal security. Police used a water canon to disperse the crowd after protesters tried to break through police barricades.
A mass march and demonstration Wednesday outside the Israeli parliament continued into the late evening hours and ended with several arrests.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.
Israel's retaliatory offensive, among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war at its height displaced around 90% of Gaza's population and has caused vast destruction across the territory.
Magdy reported from Cairo.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Buildings destroyed during the Israeli attack are seen in the Gaza Strip during the sunset as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Buildings destroyed during the Israeli attack are seen in the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings, move away from the areas where the Israeli army is operating after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of Beit Lahia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings, move away from the areas where the Israeli army is operating after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of Beit Lahia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Ella Osama Abu Dagga, 25 days old, is held by her great-aunt Suad Abu Dagga, after she was pulled from the rubble earlier following an Israeli army airstrike that killed her parents and brother, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana )
The bodies of victims of an Israeli army airstrike are prepared for burial at Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings, move away from the areas where the Israeli army is operating after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of Beit Lahia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
People walking surrounded by buildings destroyed during the Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip are seen from southern Israel, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Buildings destroyed during the Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Neighbours watch as volunteers and rescue workers search for survivors among the rubble of a building hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
People walking surrounded by buildings destroyed during the Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip are seen from southern Israel, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Volunteers and rescue workers use a bulldozer as to remove the rubble of a building hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings traveling from Beit Hanoun to Jabaliya, a day after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings traveling from Beit Hanoun to Jabaliya, a day after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings traveling from Beit Hanoun to Jabaliya, a day after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
An Israeli tank maneuvers on the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli tank takes position on the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings traveling from Beit Hanoun to Jabaliya, a day after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
