Pubdate: Sat, 24 Sep 2005
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Copyright: 2005 The Arizona Republic
Contact:  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Jim Walsh, Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

POLICE: TEENS TOTED RING'S DRUGS

Teenage boys were used as mules by the Mendivil Vega drug ring in 
central Mesa, driving drug shipments around the Valley and throughout 
the nation, police said.

"It's very sad that they have to get juveniles involved in their 
crimes. They're corrupting juveniles," said Sgt. Chuck Trapani, a 
Mesa police spokesman. "They don't wake up wanting to be drug 
dealers. It's a learned behavior."

The boys were 16 and 17, Trapani said. They were used to protect 
bigger players in the ring from arrest.

He said one defendant was charged in an indictment with child abuse 
because a child was present during a drug buy.

Mesa police and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration said 
Tuesday they crippled the ring through a series of eight arrests in 
Mesa, Tempe and Tucson. Trapani said police made one additional 
arrest Wednesday and served two more court summons.

Police Chief Dennis Donna called it the largest Mesa drug ring in 
recent history and said it's stronghold was near Stapley Drive and Main Street.

"Within a three-to five-mile area of Stapley and Main, they were 
pretty much it in the distribution of drugs," Donna said.

The ring specialized in transporting methamphetamine, cocaine and 
marijuana from Mexico, with some of the drugs strapped to the backs 
of smugglers, Trapani said.

The ring operated stash houses across the Valley, including some in 
Mesa. They sold the drugs locally and throughout the nation, 
transporting them to Illinois, Ohio and New York.

Authorities conservatively estimate the ring moved 20 pounds of 
methamphetamine, 20 kilos of cocaine and 500 pounds of marijuana to 
other states each month.

The raids were carried out Tuesday in areas ranging from a middle 
class neighborhood in the 2400 block of East Alpine Avenue to a 
run-down apartment complex near Country Club Drive and Brown Road.

"The Chicago-based Latin King gang recruited gang members in Mesa and 
established a distribution network," the state Attorney General's 
Office said in a press release.

Donna said the Latin Kings are no different than other gangs in 
setting up distribution networks in the Valley.

More than a decade ago, the Crips and Bloods, rival drug gangs in Los 
Angeles, established crack networks in Phoenix, igniting a wave of 
gang warfare.

Trapani said Mesa detectives identified several potential stash 
houses in the city, but the ring moved the drugs before police could 
establish adequate evidence to obtain search warrants.

City Council member Mike Whalen, whose district includes part of 
central Mesa, said police disrupted a major operation but there are 
many additional rings in the city.

"We could probably use an extra 100 police officers to take care of 
the drug trade in the city," said Whalen, a retired assistant police 
chief. "This has been going on a long time."

Area residents interviewed Wednesday said they were pleased by the 
arrests, but many were reluctant to comment on the violent gang.

Police said they believe the gang is responsible for several shootings in Mesa.

"I think it makes a difference," said Mary Ellen Adams of Mesa, who 
was donating clothes at a Goodwill store on Wednesday on Main Street 
east of Stapley Drive.

"It's not going to solve the problem in one fell swoop. If they don't 
do anything, it just gets worse."

Greg Erickson, owner of Sally's Fabrics, a sewing shop that's 
operated in the area for 50 years, said he wasn't aware of any overt 
drug activity.

But, Erickson said, "The more they take drugs off the street, the better."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman