Jamal Coates was shot and killed during a drive-by shooting after a funeral on U Street.

Last September, 21-year-old Jamal Coates was killed during a brazen daylight drive-by shooting on U Street NW. This week, reports Homicide Watch, seven men have been charged for gang violence and retaliations that led to seven deaths in Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan and U Street since 2006 — including Coates’.

The 47-page indictment covers a series of crimes committed by members of three different neighborhood crews in Columbia Heights, including one from 14th and Girard streets NW, one from 17th and Euclid streets and one from Columbia Heights Village. (The City Paper’s Jason Cherkis wrote a must-read on the Euclid Street crew in 2010; he also profiled Ricardo Epps, one of those indicted, in a 2005 story.)

The seven defendants face charges of first-degree murder while armed in connection with a number of killings in 2009 and 2010. Four of the men are currently in custody.

UPDATE, 1:30 P.M.: The office of U.S. Attorney Ron Machen has just put out a statement on the indictments. It reads:

The indictment followed an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department and a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force. The indictment, which was unsealed this week, includes a total of 80 felony counts, including 39 charges under a criminal gang statute passed by the District of Columbia Council in 2006. If convicted, the defendants face the potential of life prison sentences.

“The chaotic string of violence alleged in this indictment culminated in the killing of a rival crew member along U Street in the middle of the day,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “This 80-count felony indictment demonstrates our commitment to aggressively targeting the gangs that are so often responsible for inflicting waves of retaliatory violence on our community.”

“As alleged, these defendants were part of a dangerous and deadly criminal organization that used threats, intimidation, and extreme violence to protect their turf,” said Chief Lanier. “These indictments are an important step forward in dismantling this ruthless gang and disrupting their reign of terror.”