Post by uglyknuckles on Apr 6, 2006 13:22:49 GMT -5
pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060406/NEWS01/604060323/1006
For a town of less that half a million people, we have more ghetto and hood than anywhere else I've been per capita. I know, I was raised in 'em. All the local projects sent their kids to the same schools I was sentenced to.
Those of you who are Broken Halos vets will remember me posting an article a couple years ago about The Warrington All-stars gang/drug bust. Warrington, aptly named, was my neighborhood. It was constantly on between those from Warrington and the West Side and the Pensacola Village folks.
11 arrested in drug bust
Agencies find $100,000 in drugs, cash and guns
Sean Smith
@pensacolanewsjournal.com
A multiagency investigation into drug dealing at Pensacola Village apartments nabbed 11 suspected dealers in an initial wave of arrests this week that seized more than $100,000 in drugs, cash and guns.
At a news conference Wednesday at the Pensacola Police Department, State Attorney Bill Eddins described it as a "significant investigation with excellent results."
Pensacola police started the investigation more than 10 months ago, but narcotics Detective Brad Burrus has worked the private housing project for about two years, making arrests and gaining links to a conspiracy that for years has plagued the government-subsidized private housing project.
He said that when he previously would make an arrest, the dealer would quickly be replaced. This sweep was more comprehensive, Burrus said.
The majority of those arrested did not live in the complex, but they used apartments of people who resided there, or simply sold from their cars or the street, he said.
"It's a housing project with several good people -- a lot of single moms with kids, and there are just a few bad apartments," Burrus said. "It was getting to where they couldn't live there anymore. There's dope everywhere. And they said they can't afford to move anywhere else."
'Early-warning system'
Patrol cars often saw nothing when they responded to calls of complaints because the dealers used lookouts, said Sgt. Steve Bauer, supervisor of the five-man Pensacola police vice and narcotics unit. The compound of apartment buildings has an entrance on Fairfield Drive and an exit on North Davis Highway.
"Pensacola Village had an early-warning system," Bauer said. "There was one way in and one way out. We'd get close, and phones would start ringing and people would start knocking on people's doors."
Lookouts were able to alert dealers about police bike patrols, Bauer said.
Eleven suspects were arrested Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with warrants issued for eight others. Police identified Terrance Stallworth as a possible ringleader, but said the group did not have a rigid structure.
The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of the drugs, Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent Eli Lawson said.
A virtual buffet
A virtual buffet of seized drugs, cash and weapons were spread out over a large folding table at the police station:
· Baggies containing chunks of cocaine larger than golf balls, totalling one kilogram, worth about $85,000. Each bag weighed about one ounce, or 28 grams. The bags sell for about $1,000, or the dealers will break the contents up and sell it for $100 a gram, Burrus said.
· Two baggies contained yellowed "cookies" of crack cocaine.
· An imposing Tec-9, a banned 9 mm rapid-fire gun about the size of an Uzi. It will be sent to an FDLE lab to determine if it is semi- or fully automatic, Burrus said. Charges will be enhanced if the weapon turns out to be a fully automatic machine gun.
· About $16,000 in cash was spread out over the table, mostly in $100 bills and $20s. Officers also seized MDMA -- Ecstasy -- which was being sold as well.
· About $1,000 worth of marijuana.
· A custom-framed photograph of Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, with a pistol and bag of white powder inset into the frame. Escobar was gunned down by a secret police unit in 1993 on the roof of a hideout in Medellin, Colombia.
$100,000 grant
The Pensacola Village investigation was funded by a $100,000 Violent Crime and Drug Control Council grant awarded by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to the Pensacola Police Department.
About 20 officers and agents were involved in the case, supplementing the five-man Pensacola narcotics unit. Escambia County Sheriff's Office; FDLE; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the State Attorney's Office were involved in the case, Eddins said.
Manpower and cooperation
"The goal of this was to stop drug dealing in Pensacola Village," Eddins said. "It was a lengthy investigation that required tremendous manpower and cooperation between the agencies."
Officers searched one apartment at Pensacola Village and homes and apartments in the 3800 block of West Blount Street; the 100 block of Old Corry Field Road; the 6800 block of Tiki Lane; the 100 block of Cavalier Drive; and the 9400 block of Chisholm Road.
Pensacola Village staff could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Bauer said the police department will attempt to "brainstorm" with management to prevent dealers from setting up shop again. Surveillance cameras or resident identification cards are possible.
Adults and children gathered outside the apartments Thursday, but none wanted to identify themselves to speak to the News Journal.
For a town of less that half a million people, we have more ghetto and hood than anywhere else I've been per capita. I know, I was raised in 'em. All the local projects sent their kids to the same schools I was sentenced to.
Those of you who are Broken Halos vets will remember me posting an article a couple years ago about The Warrington All-stars gang/drug bust. Warrington, aptly named, was my neighborhood. It was constantly on between those from Warrington and the West Side and the Pensacola Village folks.
11 arrested in drug bust
Agencies find $100,000 in drugs, cash and guns
Sean Smith
@pensacolanewsjournal.com
A multiagency investigation into drug dealing at Pensacola Village apartments nabbed 11 suspected dealers in an initial wave of arrests this week that seized more than $100,000 in drugs, cash and guns.
At a news conference Wednesday at the Pensacola Police Department, State Attorney Bill Eddins described it as a "significant investigation with excellent results."
Pensacola police started the investigation more than 10 months ago, but narcotics Detective Brad Burrus has worked the private housing project for about two years, making arrests and gaining links to a conspiracy that for years has plagued the government-subsidized private housing project.
He said that when he previously would make an arrest, the dealer would quickly be replaced. This sweep was more comprehensive, Burrus said.
The majority of those arrested did not live in the complex, but they used apartments of people who resided there, or simply sold from their cars or the street, he said.
"It's a housing project with several good people -- a lot of single moms with kids, and there are just a few bad apartments," Burrus said. "It was getting to where they couldn't live there anymore. There's dope everywhere. And they said they can't afford to move anywhere else."
'Early-warning system'
Patrol cars often saw nothing when they responded to calls of complaints because the dealers used lookouts, said Sgt. Steve Bauer, supervisor of the five-man Pensacola police vice and narcotics unit. The compound of apartment buildings has an entrance on Fairfield Drive and an exit on North Davis Highway.
"Pensacola Village had an early-warning system," Bauer said. "There was one way in and one way out. We'd get close, and phones would start ringing and people would start knocking on people's doors."
Lookouts were able to alert dealers about police bike patrols, Bauer said.
Eleven suspects were arrested Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with warrants issued for eight others. Police identified Terrance Stallworth as a possible ringleader, but said the group did not have a rigid structure.
The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of the drugs, Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent Eli Lawson said.
A virtual buffet
A virtual buffet of seized drugs, cash and weapons were spread out over a large folding table at the police station:
· Baggies containing chunks of cocaine larger than golf balls, totalling one kilogram, worth about $85,000. Each bag weighed about one ounce, or 28 grams. The bags sell for about $1,000, or the dealers will break the contents up and sell it for $100 a gram, Burrus said.
· Two baggies contained yellowed "cookies" of crack cocaine.
· An imposing Tec-9, a banned 9 mm rapid-fire gun about the size of an Uzi. It will be sent to an FDLE lab to determine if it is semi- or fully automatic, Burrus said. Charges will be enhanced if the weapon turns out to be a fully automatic machine gun.
· About $16,000 in cash was spread out over the table, mostly in $100 bills and $20s. Officers also seized MDMA -- Ecstasy -- which was being sold as well.
· About $1,000 worth of marijuana.
· A custom-framed photograph of Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, with a pistol and bag of white powder inset into the frame. Escobar was gunned down by a secret police unit in 1993 on the roof of a hideout in Medellin, Colombia.
$100,000 grant
The Pensacola Village investigation was funded by a $100,000 Violent Crime and Drug Control Council grant awarded by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to the Pensacola Police Department.
About 20 officers and agents were involved in the case, supplementing the five-man Pensacola narcotics unit. Escambia County Sheriff's Office; FDLE; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the State Attorney's Office were involved in the case, Eddins said.
Manpower and cooperation
"The goal of this was to stop drug dealing in Pensacola Village," Eddins said. "It was a lengthy investigation that required tremendous manpower and cooperation between the agencies."
Officers searched one apartment at Pensacola Village and homes and apartments in the 3800 block of West Blount Street; the 100 block of Old Corry Field Road; the 6800 block of Tiki Lane; the 100 block of Cavalier Drive; and the 9400 block of Chisholm Road.
Pensacola Village staff could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Bauer said the police department will attempt to "brainstorm" with management to prevent dealers from setting up shop again. Surveillance cameras or resident identification cards are possible.
Adults and children gathered outside the apartments Thursday, but none wanted to identify themselves to speak to the News Journal.
