Pubdate: Wed, 16 Nov 2005
Source: Daily Progress, The (VA)
Copyright: 2005 Media General Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.dailyprogress.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1545
Author: Liesel Nowak

TRIAL EYES CITY ORGANIZED CRIME

In his opening statement Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. 
Heaphy avoided the word "gang" to describe the group of men charged 
with racketeering and accused of running a narcotics ring.

Instead, he used the words "organization," "group" and "enterprise."

In some ways, the prosecutor made the ring sound more like the mob.

"In this community, ladies and gentlemen, we have organized crime," 
Heaphy told the panel. "In the course of this trial, you're going to 
see a different part of this community."

The RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act, 
which allows federal prosecutors to charge individuals with 
committing illegal acts to further a criminal enterprise, was 
established in an effort to crack down on the Mafia. This is believed 
to be Charlottesville's first RICO trial.

Heaphy referred to 28-year-old Louis Antonio Bryant - charged with 
being the leader of a group called Project Crud, PJC or the Westside 
Crew - as "the boss," and the most fearless and violent member.

Bryant's uncle, John Darrelle Bryant, Claiborne Lemar Maupin and 
Terrance Suggs are codefendants in the racketeering trial expected to 
last through November and possibly into December.

There are two killings and numerous shootings the government 
attributes to the group, including a drive-by shooting in which a 
nurse was caught in the crossfire on her way home from work.

Heaphy promised that physical evidence, such as bullets, letters, 
telephone records and financial statements, will corroborate 
testimony from what he called "the spine" of the case: insider witnesses.

Testimony from former codefendants should be viewed with skepticism, 
defense attorneys warned jurors, because they are only out to save 
their own skin.

Jonathan L. Katz, an attorney from Silver Spring, Md., hired to 
represent Louis Bryant, called the prosecution's case "a fantasy" 
that hangs on the testimony of unreliable snitches.

"I'm angry," Katz said in his impassioned opening. "This man does not 
belong here. But he is here and I'm what comes between him and injustice."

One of Bryant's closest friends and former codefendant, Detric 
"D-Dott" Cabell, was the first witness-cooperator to testify. He 
identified photos of tattoos on his arms that marked him as a member 
of PJC or the Westside Crew, including the image of a hand shaped 
into a "W," and the letters "PJC" written under the image of public 
housing and the signs for 10th and Page streets.

While the community has been divided on the use of the term "gang," 
Heaphy steered away from such language and instead focused on the 
acts he said were committed by those who were part of a large 
drug-dealing business in the 10th and Page neighborhood, near the 
Westhaven public housing complex.

Some city residents complain that clusters of young black men have 
been wrongly identified as gangs. They say "Project Crud" was a rap 
group back in the day, started by some boys who were raised in the projects.

Heaphy acknowledged that some of the men caught in the racketeering 
net knew each other from growing up in the same neighborhood on the 
west side of town.

Resulting territorial mentality that started out as schoolyard 
fistfights led to more violent "beefs," or arguments, between the 
"Westside Crew" and residents of other parts of the city, including 
Prospect Avenue and Garrett Square, Heaphy said.

The organization established a pattern of violence, Heaphy said, 
partly because of the neighborhood conflicts and also due to threats 
to the enterprise, both real and perceived. The resulting crime 
spree, he said, is racketeering.

Heaphy said the violence and drug deals made it possible for Bryant 
to purchase expensive cars and were referenced in Bryant's legitimate 
business: his rap music.

Heaphy called Bryant's lyrics a confession. Katz called it poetry. 
Jurors were introduced to a snippet of Bryant's music in Heaphy's 
opening and have been promised more as the trial continues.

Testimony will resume today.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman