During a lengthy investigation designed to cripple the Latin Kings gang in South Florida, law enforcement secretly recorded thousands of phone calls and texts, furtively filmed dozens of drug deals and gun sales, and used at least one undercover informant who cooperated with them for about a year.
The sheer amount of evidence involved convinced a federal judge Wednesday that Feb. 1 is the earliest possible trial date for 22 defendants accused of being members or associates of the gang in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.
"I believe it would take [defense lawyers] months to review that evidence," Assistant U.