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49 caught in major cocaine bust; five from Twin Cities; Los Angeles-based gangs ran network to Minnesota Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) May 16, 1996 By Heron Marquez Estrada; Staff Writer Federal agents in St. Paul and Los Angeles said Wednesday that they have arrested major figures in a national cocaine ring believed to have sold more than 20 pounds of cocaine per week in Minnesota alone, earning the group more than $ 10 million in profits. A total of 49 people, including five Twin Cities residents, were charged nationwide as local, state and federal agents targeted what they described as a sophisticated drug distribution network run by Los Angeles street gangs. Prosecutors said the group imported cocaine from Mexico and then shipped it throughout the United States. A total of 28 people were arrested in California, with others charged in Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma. "The days when gangs could feel immune from law enforcement are over," U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said in a statement from Washington, D.C. "We are attacking their organizations from top to bottom and putting them out of business." Authorities believe the local group had been in operation for about two years, and that it would ship about 10 kilos of cocaine (22 pounds) into St. Paul on a weekly basis from Los Angeles. "And that is on the low end," said Lt. Jim Lundholm, head of the St. Paul Police Department's narcotics unit, which participated in the national effort. During the time it was in operation, the St. Paul-Los Angeles group reportedly pocketed about $ 100,000 per week in drug profits, Lundholm said. He estimated the group shipped about a ton of cocaine into the Twin Cities area in the past two years. "This was a large-scale operation," Lundholm said. "They are at the high end of the midlevel or the low end of the high level" of cocaine dealers in St. Paul. The St. Paul-Los Angeles connection was but one of several distribution pipelines established by the Los Angeles street gangs over the years, authorities said. Also included in the network were Memphis, Tenn., Oklahoma City and Jackson, Miss. "Los Angeles-based street gangs are a national problem," said Nora Manella, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. "Narcotics traffickers who cut their teeth on the streets of L.A. are branching out to the South, Midwest and the Northeast." The Los Angeles Times reported that many of the suspects are affiliated with the Grape Street Crips, a major gang in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Thirty-six of the 49 defendants were arrested Wednesday. Among those charged was Wayne A. Day, 39, described by authorities as the leader of the network and the "godfather" of Los Angeles street gangs. "He's been a difficult target over the years, very careful about insulating himself," said Charlie Parsons, the agent in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office. Day's sister, Bridgette, also was among those being sought by the FBI after a grand jury indicted her on drug charges. And his aunt, Janis Floyd, already is in federal custody serving a 10-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. During the raids in several cities, authorities confiscated a total of about $ 500,000 in cash, more than 80 pounds of cocaine and a larger, but unspecified, amount of rock cocaine that is sold as crack. The local group, some of whom are related by blood or marriage, ran a sophisticated drug ring involving wire transfers and overnight shipments of large sums of cash, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Minneapolis. During its operation, the local ring frequently had visitors from Los Angeles who traveled to the Twin Cities to oversee shipments of cash back to Los Angeles, according to a grand jury indictment released Wednesday in Minneapolis. The St. Paul residents charged and arrested were: Derrick Coleman, 28; Lana Glass, 27; her husband, Pierre Glass, 28; and Rafael Williams, 23. Also charged was Danny Givens, 37, of Brooklyn Park. Arrested in Los Angeles were: Day; Patrick Beard, 24; Deanna Foster, 25; Antoinette Hayward, 20; Damon Whitmore, 22; Kathryn Wooten, 30, and her husband, Patrick Wooten, 33. Authorities charged the St. Paul suspects with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and possession of crack. Along with the criminal charges, the Minnesota U.S. attorney's office also will be seeking forfeiture of $ 214,536 that allegedly came from illicit drug sales. Among the money seized was $ 90,000 confiscated from two of the defendants at the Greyhound bus station in Minneapolis in December 1995, said Karen Bailey, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office. The defendants, who had been targeted for months, were caught with the money by Minneapolis police. They were released pending the filing of charges, St. Paul and Minneapolis police said Wednesday. The size of the Los Angeles-St. Paul operation indicates that St. Paul no longer is just a shipping route for the drug trade, Lundholm said. "We are, for good or for bad, now an end in itself," he said. Despite the breaking of the ring, Lundholm said he did not think the arrests would put a major dent in the growing St. Paul crack cocaine market. "It seems like every time we make one of these arrests there is always somebody to take their place," he said. On May 3, local, state and federal authorities announced the arrests of four members of the "Detroit Boys," a crack-dealing gang that was operating in Minneapolis and Rosemount. That gang also was bringing cocaine into the Twin Cities from the West Coast, police said. Police said that group could distribute 16 ounces of crack in a day. The Los Angeles Times and Associated Press contributed to this report. LOAD-DATE: May 17, 1996 News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

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