Houston Police Department

April 6, 2006 -- A second of three members of a Houston gang targeted and wanted by the Houston Police Gang Murder Squad is now in custody after surrendering to homicide investigators at HPD Headquarters about 8 p.m. on Wednesday (Apr. 5).

Derrick Dwayne West (b/m, DOB 12-16-79), also known as 'D-West,' is charged with two counts of aggravated assault in the 230th State District Court for his role in the shooting of a woman at 10001 Club Creek on November 9, 2005, and the shooting of a male at 11555 Bissonnet on November 6, 2005. In each of the incidents West is charged, he knew the victims. West is now in custody.

The only remaining member of a gang called 'The 5-9 Bounty Hunters' wanted by investigators at this time is Kevin Earl Curry (b/m, DOB 1-25-70), who goes by the names of 'Fast Black' and 'Smooth Black.' He is charged with murder in the 176th State District Court in the February 17 killing of one man and wounding of another at 10110 Forum Park. Both victims knew Curry and were shot multiple times. A photo of Curry is posted on the HPD Web site at www.houstonpolice.org.

Bianca Johnson (b/f, DOB 8-21-88), also known as 'Anastasia,' was arrested by officers with the HPD Westside Patrol Division tactical and gang units during a traffic stop at 12750 Briar Forest about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday. Johnson's mother contacted investigators with information on her whereabouts and said she had convinced her daughter to surrender to police. Following her arrest, Johnson confessed to shooting a woman in the face at the apartment at 10001 Club Creek on November 9, 2005 (same incident West is charged in). Johnson is charged with aggravated assault in the 230th State District Court.

At a news conference on Wednesday (Apr. 5), investigators in the Houston Police Homicide Division Gang Murder Squad announced they had arrested 13 suspects, cleared 16 of 17 investigations centering on one gang and are asking the public's help in locating three suspects (including Curry) who remain at large.

Since its formation in January, the gang murder squad has identified and targeted 16 suspects from a blood gang called 'The 5-9 Bounty Hunters' and its affiliate groups wanted for various violent crimes, many of them in the southwest side of the city. Seven of those crimes were murders. Of those 16 suspects, 13 (now 15) have been taken into custody by officers from several divisions within HPD. Those divisions include the Gang Division, Westside Patrol tactical unit, Fondren Patrol gang unit and officers working an ongoing citywide overtime program called the Neighborhood Enforcement Taskforce Team (NETT).

The Gang Murder Squad focused on apartment complexes at 9700 South Gessner, 8100 Gustine, 11500 Bissonnet and 12200 Sapling Way due to extremely high occurrences of violent crime at those locations. Members of the same gang seemed to be prevalent in the investigations and investigators began to piece the cases together thanks to intelligence and cooperation from several divisions within HPD.

Anyone with information on the remaining wanted suspect, Kevin Earl Curry, is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Update2 JFC/RMM 4-6-06
Update JFC/RMM 4-5-06
JFC/MDB 4-5-06

For additional information, please contact the HPD Public Affairs Division at 713-308-3200.