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Limited law enforcement services make eastern Pa. conducive to activity, say feds.
Recognizing the opportunity for high profits in an area with limited law enforcement services, drug trafficking gangs have set up permanent operations throughout eastern Pennsylvania, according to a federal report of drug and gang violence released on Friday.
For one local undercover drug agent, gang violence and narcotic trafficking is becoming an epidemic.
“I’m not surprised; we’ve been dealing with gangs for years around here,” said the agent, who asked his name not be used to protect his cover. “As little as five years ago, a gang member would come here from New York City or Newark, stay here for a few days to sell their dope, and go back.
“Nowadays, the trend seems to be gang members are keeping girlfriends here, getting them pregnant, and they’re using their houses and apartments as stash houses. You see this in a lot of Section 8 apartment complexes. What is becoming dangerous that adds to the violence are the different gang affiliations and sectors moving in to make a profit,” he said.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Drug Gang Threat Assessment prepared by the National Drug Intelligence Center outlines the growing problem of gang violence and drug trafficking.
The report, done on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, was generated upon the request of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, who has asked federal authorities to provide assistance to local law enforcement agencies.
“In many eastern Pennsylvania communities, the nature of drug distribution by gangs that originated in the New York area has shifted from occasional and transient operations to those that are more permanent and established,” the report says, noting gang members feel less law enforcement pressure in eastern Pennsylvania compared to a heavier authority presence in New York.
The report also mirrors what the local drug agent explained. The agent said that “gang members often facilitate their transition from the New York City areas to smaller drug markets … by forming relationships with local females.”
The local drug agent said there are too many small municipal police departments that do not have the manpower or money to conduct a long drug investigation.
Coincidently, the Pennsylvania Economy League in a June 2010 report indicated Luzerne County municipalities are employing fewer full-time police officers at the same time the sale of illegal drugs is rampant.
“In most of these towns, there is one cop on duty, and they’re usually busy with a domestic or a traffic stop,” the drug agent said. “When was the last time a single cop made a big bust? It doesn’t happen around here. And these gangs know it.”
A few dedicated municipal officers are members of the Luzerne County Drug Task Force with the state Office of Attorney General, which has coordinated large-scale drug sweeps arresting alleged gang members on drug trafficking charges in recent years.
Criminal probes
Recent investigations involving alleged gang members:
• Operation Heavyweight, which was executed in October 2008 by the state Office of Attorney General, resulted in the break-up of the Long Island Boys and the Jersey City Boys, which sold millions of dollars of heroin in Wilkes-Barre, according to the AG’s office.
Competition between the Long Island Boys and a Philadelphia gang for the heroin market in the Sherman Hills apartment complex led to violence, including the torture of a 15-year-old boy and the possible fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man in June 2008.
Most of the gang members involved in the two gangs relocated to Wilkes-Barre from New York City, Patterson, N.J., and Newark, N.J.
• Operation Bloodstain launched in October by the state Office of Attorney General resulted in charges filed against 17 people, nine of whom were allegedly associated with the Bloods street gang in New York City that distributed more than 1.5 million heroin packets with an estimated street value of $15 million.
• A near fatal shooting outside a Plains Township nightclub in June involved rival gang members of the Crips and the Bloods, according to arrest records.
Township police charged Jerayme Johnson, 24, an alleged Bloods member, with the shooting of Thomas Stephen Tonic, 19, outside Club Evolution at the Woodlands Inn & Resort on June 18. Arrest records say Tonic is associated with the Crips gang.
Police allege Johnson sought retaliation after being told Tonic disrespected his girlfriend inside the nightclub. Johnson remains at-large.