Posted on 04/20/2002 8:37:39 AM PDT by buzzyboop
Special Agent Greg Drews of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration clenched his fist in satisfaction yesterday as he walked from a Downtown hotel where Attorney General John Ashcroft had just announced the largest heroin and cocaine bust in Western Pennsylvania history.
"I've worked a lot of big drug cases in my career, but this is the biggest," he said. "I really feel that this time I've made an impact."
It was an attitude shared by other federal agents and local police who participated in "Operation Family Store," an investigation that broke the back of a sophisticated network that shipped more than 25 pounds of heroin and 220 pounds of cocaine from Atlanta and New York to Pittsburgh between 1998 and this year.
In a federal indictment returned on Tuesday and unsealed yesterday, 11 people were charged with distributing heroin and crack cocaine from a center of operations on the North Side throughout the Pittsburgh region.
Ashcroft, who was joined by DEA head Asa Hutchinson, said the case grew out of efforts to stem drug violence in the city.
"These charges have been developed out of an investigation designed to trace the origins of a spike in violent crime on the North Side of Pittsburgh," he said. "This effort uncovered a serious and growing drug problem in Western Pennsylvania."
Allegheny County had 129 heroin-related deaths in 2001, he said, an 88 percent increase over the previous year.
Agents and Pittsburgh police said the ring was run by Oliver Beasley, 38, of Pierce Street in Penn Hills. DEA had targeted him for two years as a major heroin distributor and was finally able to put its case together after city detectives from the Weed and Seed Task Force provided crucial information in the fall of 2001.
City detective Fred Woodard said Beasley was the owner of several businesses on Perrysville Avenue, including the Family Store at 2537 Perrysville. That store was one of the focal points in the investigation, which lent the operation its nickname.
The other ringleader was identified as Donald Lyles, 28, of the Allegheny Center apartments, who is widely known as "Chief" on the North Side.
Much of the case was built on wiretaps of phones used by Lyles, according to an affidavit prepared by DEA Special Agent Tom Jackson.
In addition to the 11 charged in the indictment, two other men, Frederick Gravely and Omari Patton, have been charged in separate complaints after agents arrested them Thursday at 1413 Glenn Ave. in Wilkinsburg. Authorities also seized a Ford Explorer with a hidden compartment containing 140 bricks of heroin.
The U.S. attorney's office has moved to seize $5 million in cash or bank accounts and more than 20 properties and businesses owned by Beasley or used by the drug network, including J.B.'s Coffee Shop and Diner at 2615 Perrysville and Beeda Bees Beauty Salon at 2537 Perrysville.
Agents and police said the network shipped the drugs from New York and Atlanta to Pittsburgh in vehicles with hidden compartments and shipped money back to suppliers in those cities.
When the heroin arrived here, it was quickly distributed to customers, many of them in the suburbs of Ross, Shaler and Cranberry.
"Normally, within an hour or two, it was gone," said Woodard.
The small amount left over was stored in various city residences inside furniture, including aquariums equipped with hydraulic lifts to access secret compartments.
A piece of the case became public on March 27 when state police arrested Pamela Watson, 53, of the North Side, after stopping her minivan on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset County. Police said they found 6.1 pounds of heroin worth $2 million stashed beneath the floor.
Watson, known as "Auntie" on the street, was among those indicted on Tuesday. The others are Edward Myrick, 39, of Bethel Park; Todd Greene, 37, of Spring Valley, N.Y.; Herbert Felder, 33, of Newark, N.J.; Jerome Hollaman, 37, of Northview Heights; Andre Key, 26, of the North Side; Leonard Worthy, 49, of Homewood; Michael Gyure, 32, of the North Side; and Delgardo Scott, 46, of the North Side.
Agents and police rounded up most of the suspects early Thursday and hauled them before U.S. Magistrate Kenneth Benson. As of yesterday, police said, only Key and Worthy were still at large.
As they appeared in court, one without a shirt, many of the defendants seemed stunned.
Lyles and Myrick, for example, sat handcuffed on a bench in the hallway of U.S. District Court, talking with federal agents about the possible penalties they face. Because of the scale of the drug operation, the ring members will end up serving at least 10 years in prison if convicted, and some could get life.
"Man," said Lyles as he shook his head.
Myrick appeared close to tears.
Typical CJ. Your heart bleeds buckets for people who might choose to shoot heroin into their veins, but not 1 drop for the burden of American taxpayer. The only moral-liberal around here is you. You desire to sheild people from having to suffer the consequences of their actions - with taxpayer money. Sick!
I would be more impressed if the headline was:
John Ashcroft heralds the end of a major political coruption ring with indictments of Bill Clinton and 11 others of his previous administration.
Laws against bank robbery somehow rob would be bank robbers of their free will choice on whether to rob a bank or not? Often times the loony moral-leftists try to excuse irresponsible and criminal behaviors, to claim that society is to blame rather than the criminal. Please explain how laws thwart free will or free choice. You can't.
Thanks for the new word.
tpaine's new Orwellian word implies that conservative values are no better than child-rape. The moral-liberal libertarian trivialization of child-rape has been noted.
CJ, I just know that you can tell the difference between crimes of force or fraud, and crimes of stupid personal choices. I know you can
Try.
Why should a government bureaucracy enjoy the fruits of their illegal confiscations in a 'war on some drugs' that have been unconstitutionaly declared to be criminal possessions?
Because too many of us allow it.
But laws are used to prosecute and punish. Why, in your opinion, should buying, selling, or taking drugs require prosecution and/or punishment??
Since you apparently want people to learn the hard way, then you are also against the public funding of traffic warning signs. "Let 'em figure out the hard way just how unforgiving metal can be! Why should I be burdened with paying for warning signs? Let 'em die by the side of the road for all I care! I am a loving person!"
Oh yeah, and the constitution is in there, too!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.