2 Austrian youth gangs busted by police

Two youth gangs in Austria responsible for a spate of robberies here were busted by police with 33 individuals charged, Vienna Police said at a press conference Friday.

The two gangs were loosely connected with each other and were responsible for a number of robberies and extortions which totalled over 50,000 U.S. dollars in value.

The 20-year-old Russian leader of one of the gangs, which called itself the Goldenbergs, is said to have received a percentage of all the takings. The gang is believed to be responsible for having carried out 106 various crimes, and is comprised of 17 members aged 14 to 21 who were charged with the crimes. Ten suspects are still in police custody.

The other gang was less organized, and it's members have been charged with involvement in 15 robberies, some of which included the use of knives and airsoft guns.

Police first set up a task force to tackle the sudden upswing in robberies at the beginning of 2014 when it came to light that other youth were being robbed of cash and cell phones. They soon came across the Goldenbergs gang, who even had their own Facebook page set up with 150 online members, the majority of whom are not believed to have been criminally active.

A supermarket robbery in the Vienna district of Semmering led to the further arrest of three Russians, a Pole, and an Austrian who belonged to the gang. The fact that robberies were still continuing despite the numerous arrests then led police to the trail of the second gang, police said. Endit