Saturday, April 23, 2011

61 Arrested in Drug Raids at South Bronx Tenements

In raids that officials said dismantled 12 violent drug gangs, nearly 600 police officers, F.B.I. agents and other investigators fanned out across a troubled housing development early yesterday morning to break up a criminal network that had established a stubborn hold on the South Bronx.
The raids, which resulted in the arrests of 61 people, were the culmination of a three-month investigation in which 35 others had been arrested earlier. The investigation was financed by a $107,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which sought to reclaim the Jose de Diego-Beekman Houses, a crime-ridden complex of 38 renovated tenement buildings, from the heroin and crack dealers that the police said had established headquarters there.
The 12 gangs that were dismantled -- which had names like the Simon and Simon Gang, the American Express Gang and Conga's Gang -- sold about $100,000 worth of drugs a day and were responsible for at least 18 murders since 1989, Police Commissioner Howard Safir said. He and other law enforcement officials said they hoped that the raids, by breaking up so many gangs in one swoop, would have a lasting effect in a housing complex and a neighborhood that have seen more than their share of drug-related violence.

For years, drug traffickers have been drawn to the Diego-Beekman complex, a group of red- and yellow-brick tenement houses that stretches from 138th Street to 143d Street in Mott Haven. On those streets the Wild Cowboys gang, who the police said were responsible for 10 murders, dealt in drugs and terror during the early 1990's. And as soon as the police broke up the Wild Cowboys, other, smaller gangs filled the vacuum and continued selling drugs.
Inspector Jose Cordero, the commanding officer of the 40th Precinct, said the houses suited drug dealers' needs because they were convenient to major roads and bridges, making them easy to reach from Manhattan, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, and because the old tenements, with shared roofs and adjoining yards, allowed easy entrances and exits.
''Over time, the gangs become bigger and more comfortable, and began networking like businesses,'' Inspector Cordero said.
The police also closed several storefront businesses yesterday, including Llamadas Internacionales, at 138th Street and Brown Place, whose yellow and green sign advertises international calling, beeper services, money orders and insurance. The police said it also did a brisk business in drugs.

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