Reno Police Declare Victory Over KO Gang

Gang Unimpressed

The Reno Police Department has triumphantly announced that it has delivered a knockout punch to the KO gang—an outcome that, if one were to believe law enforcement, was about as decisive as a heavyweight champ flooring a glass-jawed opponent in the first round.

For years, KO, a local Blood gang set, had been making a name for itself in the fine fields of homicide, human trafficking, drug dealing, armed robbery, and the ever-popular art of stealing cars. But after a multi-year investigation led by the Regional Gang Unit and the Northern Nevada Safe Streets Task Force, the police have seized 30 guns, several pounds of illegal drugs, and an awe-inspiring $10,000—an amount that, in modern criminal economics, wouldn’t even buy a decent used getaway car.

Still, authorities insist this was a resounding success. More than 50 gang members and associates have been convicted, with many now residing in the state’s most exclusive accommodations—prison cells with an all-inclusive meal plan. Several additional cases remain pending, presumably because the wheels of justice, like the Wi-Fi in Lovelock, operate at the pace of a glacier.

The RPD says this joint effort is the first of its kind in Washoe County, and they seem quite pleased with themselves. Whether KO members share in this enthusiasm remains unclear, but given the history of organized crime, one suspects that if history has taught us anything, nature abhors a vacuum, and so do gangs. One can only hope that whatever new criminal enterprise rises to take KO’s place will at least have the good manners to make better financial decisions.

For now, Reno’s police have declared victory, and perhaps rightly so. Whether it’s a lasting peace or merely the intermission before the next act remains to be seen.