Little Joe Gustafson charged with 14 counts, racketeering
Joseph Duane "Little Joe" Gustafson, a North Minneapolis man who terrorized his neighborhood for years, is being charged today with 14 felony counts: racketeering, assault, making terroristic threats, kidnapping, drugs, and theft. 
Little Joe Gustafson, leader of the Beat Down Posse, was booked into jail this morning
Gustafson and his father Joseph Robert "Big Joe" Gustafson, a former Hell's Angel who ran a bail bond business, have been the targets of a three-year probe investigating an organized crime ring they ran in North Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Police Department uncovered evidence of arson, kidnapping, mortgage fraud, assault, and drugs. We documented all this one year ago in our cover story, "Fallen Angel."
Now, Gustafson is finally getting his comeuppance. Since our story broke, Little Joe, 36, has been charged with a few crimes--but today's development is a major breakthrough in the case. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman is calling a press conference about the case this afternoon. 
The criminal complaint lays out a dazzling pattern of organized crime and corruption that has festered in our city's northern side for years.
With the help of his right-hand man, 39-year-old Troy Michael Neuberger, Little Joe ran a criminal organization known as the "Beat-Down Posse." The Gustafsons recruited for their group, dangling the promise of unlimited women to anyone who joined "the team," the complaint alleges. Each member of the group had an individual assignment, based on their skills.
Drug dealers were especially prized--a man named Mike Swafford was recruited because he sold drugs and owned a tow truck.
Little Joe ruled with paramilitary discipline, mandating weekly Thursday night meetings that BDP members referred to as "church." The Gustafsons intimidated dealers into coming into their fold, then charged them a 10 percent "tax" on their sales, the complaint alleges. In return, the dealers got prestige, all those supposed ladies, and protection.
Troy Michael Neuberger was Little Joe's right-hand man
The BDP used the bail business, Gustafson's Bail Bonds, as an excuse to steal from their victims. Big Joe had once bailed out a man named Hector Fonseco, who skipped town and left Big Joe footing the bill for the $12,000 bond. Over and over, members of the group kicked in doors of Mexican families on Lake Street, claiming they were looking for "Hector." They'd take their victims' money and drugs.
If anyone tried to resist--and often, even if they didn't--the BDP was ready to pummel them into submission. One one occasion, the BDP assaulted a dealer and fractured his skull, leaving him for dead, bloodied in a bathtub. The victim need seventeen stitches to sew up his skull.
If their fists weren't intimidating enough, the Gustafsons carried--and sold--guns.
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