Ed Lewis Column

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and NEPA Garage Sales

Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and NEPA Cars for Sale

On the street, it’s often all in the name EDWARD LEWIS OPINION

Monday October 27, 2008 | 01:00 AM

Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com

I want to be known as Edward “The Ambassador” Lewis from now on.

No more Ed, Big Ed or Eddie for me.

My friends stopped calling me “Moose,” a nickname I picked up in my late teens, long ago.

I think “The Ambassador” perfectly fits me.

Why can’t I have a nickname that identifies me in public?

Drug dealers do.

Nearly all of the 27 people charged in “Operation Heavyweight,” an investigation that busted two Wilkes-Bare gang-related drug cartels last week, used street names.

“Baby Mamma,” “Prince Albert Fahle,” “NeNe,” “Doc,” and “Murder” are just some of the street names used by those arrested by the state Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control.

There was also a “D-Block” in the mix.

D-Block, if convicted, may find himself residing in a real D-Block in state prison.

Street names are used by drug pushers to deceive law enforcement and promote the type of drug they sell, according to undercover drug officers.

Attorney General Tom Corbett identified Shah “Good” Richardson as the ring leader for the Long Island Boys, one of the two gangs that allegedly sold millions of dollars worth of heroin in the Sherman Hills Housing Complex.

According to arrest records, Richardson was the drop-off guy in the organization whose main role was to drop off the heroin to dealers for distribution. Richardson and other Long Island gang associates used women living at Sherman Hills to stash drugs and guns and avoid police detection, arrest records say.

Corbett said Richardson used other street names to confuse police.

When police responded to unrelated emergencies at Sherman Hills, the drug peddlers watched and moved their heroin stash and weapons, Corbett said.

Corbett said the Long Island gang was a dangerous organization that resorted to intimidation and violence in order to corner the heroin market in Sherman Hills.

A really dangerous scene

Long Island gang members are allegedly linked to the murder of a rival drug leader in Sherman Hills, and the torture of a 15-year-old boy who, according to arrest records, admired the drug peddlers “because they walked around like celebrities.”

Most of the Long Island gang relocated to Wilkes-Barre from New York City for the sole purpose to sell heroin and make a profit, Corbett said.

“We are seeing an epidemic of heroin use here in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Corbett said. “A couple of years ago, when I started coming up here as attorney general in 2005, it was cocaine; now it’s heroin.”

Its unfortunate the negative outweighs the positive in this beautiful valley.

I don’t recall, in a decade of crime reporting, a time when it has been this dangerous.

Nearly a month ago, Kingston police busted a loose-knit heroin ring that operated in Edwardsville, Kingston and Wilkes-Barre. Some of those busted by Kingston police had street names.

I’m not condoning the use of street names; my job as a crime reporter brings me in regular contact with multiple law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, defendants, witnesses and victims.

That’s why I want to be called “The Ambassador.”

About the Author

Ed Lewis covers police news for the Times Leader. Reach him at elewis@timesleader.com.

Ed Lewis covers police for The Times Leader. A graduate of Hanover Area, he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from King’s College where he also minored in political science. He interned for Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski in Washington, D.C., while in college, and formerly was an assignment editor and managing editor before finding his niche covering the very busy police beat. His hobbies include lifting weights, kickboxing, reading, carpentry, gardening, model trains and sports, especially football.