MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal grand jury indicted 11 alleged members of a Minneapolis street gang on charges that include murder, conspiracy and drug trafficking, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Some of the alleged gang members have been charged for their role in seven shootings that killed five people, unsealed court records show. Five people have been charged with firearm murder, while all 11 defendants were charged with conspiracy.
The charges are part of a federal gang crackdown authorities announced in 2023 that has ensnared dozens of members or associates of several Minneapolis gangs. With Wednesday’s announcement, over 90 people have been charged with gang-related offenses since the operation started, prosecutors said.
The alleged members of the Lows gang also stand accused of trafficking fentanyl and possessing illegal guns.
“The Lows are an exceptionally violent criminal street gang that has terrorized north Minneapolis for nearly 20 years. Through threats and violence — shootings and murders — the Lows gang has long sought to establish dominion over large swaths of our city,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said. “My office will continue to respond to gang violence by treating it as the organized criminal activity it is. This indictment is an important step in dismantling a violent street gang that has devastated families and communities in north Minneapolis.”
Luger's office has built its operation targeting gangs around the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. The anti-corruption law is used to target organized crime.
Instead of RICO cases, gang-related crimes in Minnesota were traditionally prosecuted on an individual basis, Luger said. In recent years, his office shifted its approach and began building cases against the criminal organizations to which individual gang members belong, he added.
Earlier this month, three other people charged in connection with the federal gang crackdown were convicted under the RICO statute.
FILE - Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger speaks at a news conference in Minneapolis, Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)
Mixed reviews didn’t dissuade mass audiences from buying tickets to the “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which scored the biggest opening of the year for a Hollywood movie. The Illumination and Nintendo co-production earned $130.9 million over the weekend and a massive $190.1 million in its first five days in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Universal Pictures released the sequel globally on Wednesday, capitalizing on kids’ spring break vacations in the week leading up to the Easter holiday. With an estimated $182.4 million from 80 overseas markets, the film is looking at an astronomical $372.5 million debut — the latest hit for the PG rating. Mexico is leading the international bunch with $29.1 million from 5,136 screens, followed by the U.K. and Ireland with $19.7 million.
The animated sequel is the industry’s biggest debut since “Avatar: Fire and Ash” launched over Christmas. The Chinese movie “Pegasus 3,” which was not a Motion Picture Association release, has the slight edge for the 2026 global record, however.
It’s also a dip from the first film, which opened to $204 million domestically during the same five-day time frame in 2023 ($147 of that was from Friday, Saturday and Sunday). “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” went on to be the second biggest movie of 2023, with over $1.3 billion in box office receipts.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which features returning voice actors Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Day, had a massive footprint in the U.S. and Canada, where it played in 4,252 theaters, including 421 IMAX and 1,345 premium large format screens. It also cost around $110 million to make, not including marketing and promotion expenses. But it arrived on a wave of less-than-stellar reviews. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is currently sitting at a lousy 40%. Ticket buyers were more enthusiastic, however.
The family audience gave the movie five out of five stars according to PostTrak exit polls, while general audiences gave it four stars and an A- on CinemsScore. Audiences skewed male (61%) overall, although when it came to families attending there were slightly more moms (52%) than dads.
Last year, the first weekend in April hosted the launch of another video game blockbuster, “A Minecraft Movie,” which had a bigger three-day debut ($162.8 million) but didn’t have a “Project Hail Mary” in a strong second place, meaning the weekend overall is still up around 5%.
As expected, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ended the two-week reign of the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi hit “Project Hail Mary,” which landed in second its third weekend in theaters where it added $29.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $216.3 million.
Third place went to A24’s provocative new movie “The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, which made an estimated $14.4 million from 3,087 theaters. The film’s stars have been on a massive and charming press blitz to promote their R-rated movie about a engaged couple grappling with an unnerving revelation, which cost a reported $28 million to produce. The reveal has drummed up a fair amount of cultural discourse. While reviews have been more positive than not (82% on Rotten Tomatoes), it got a less promising B CinemaScore.
“Hoppers” and “Reminders of Him” rounded out the top five.
Actress Zendaya, left, and actor Robert Pattinson pose for photographers as they arrive for the Italian premiere of the movie "The Drama," in Rome, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
