Indictment charges 12 alleged members of Colombo crime family

NEW YORK (CNN) - A 17-count indictment was unsealed in federal court Wednesday, charging the alleged acting boss of the Colombo organized crime family and 11 others with crimes that include murder and narcotics trafficking, according to the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The arrests are the result of a three-year investigation into the activities of the family, reputedly led by Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, but some of the alleged crimes go as far back as the early 1990s, according to U.S. Attorney Benton J. Campbell.

Three of the defendants, including Gioeli, are accused of murder in four deaths dating from 1991 and 1992. Those include a double slaying that is thought to be part of a bloody war between two factions within the Colombo family, according to Campbell. Three of the defendants are currently behind bars on previous convictions, he said.