Pubdate: Wed, 15 Mar 2006
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2006 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Jim Herron Zamora,
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

9 SEIZED IN RAIDS ON EAST BAY DRUG DEALING

Predawn Sweep By FBI, Police Hits Project Trojans Street Gang

Scores of FBI agents and local police arrested nine  members of a 
notorious street gang Tuesday during  simultaneous raids throughout 
Contra Costa County in  what authorities called a strike intended to 
help bring  down the gang.

The gang known as the Project Trojans have controlled  much of the 
drug trafficking within North Richmond  since the 1980s and have been 
the source of much of the  violence plaguing the community, according 
to police.

"Our ultimate goal is to cut down on the violence,"  said Lt. Kitty 
Parker of the Contra Costa County  Sheriff's Office. "The gang 
controls the drugs, and  therefore they control who gets shot. If you 
can break  the gang and stop the drug sales, you will see a lot  less 
violence."

But some residents questioned that assertion, noting  the arrests 
might incite violence as rivals compete to  fill the void.

"Somebody else is going to want to keep selling dope  here, and the 
toughest one will win," said Marcus, a  young man who would give only 
his first name for fear  of retribution from gang members. "It's not 
going to  change unless you take the profits out of the drug  market."

All of the men arrested face charges of conspiracy to  distribute 
narcotics. None of them entered pleas when  they were arraigned 
Tuesday afternoon before U.S.  Magistrate Bernard Zimmerman.

Tuesday's predawn raids on 14 homes capped a two-year  investigation 
in which local investigators with  extensive knowledge of the Project 
Trojans -- the  target of numerous probes over the years -- worked 
alongside federal investigators who often can devote  more time and 
resources to an investigation.

"This was really a good marriage between us and the  FBI," Parker 
said. "We have the knowledge. We have the  street savvy. They have 
the resources and the technical  folks to really do this right."

The raids began at 4:30 a.m. with a briefing in the  parking lot of 
the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline park,  where more than 100 federal 
agents gathered in the dark  and rain.

"This weather is awful, but it helps us," joked Richard  Davis, an 
FBI special agent who has spent more than a  year on the case. "No 
one else will be out but us. That  makes things easier."

SWAT teams from Sacramento and Los Angeles joined local  authorities 
in the raids, and the bust at 412 W. Grove  Ave. was among the more 
complicated operations.  Officers had to cut through a chain-link 
fence and make  their way past pit bulls -- so they kept fire 
extinguishers handy in case they had to repel the dogs.

"We got lucky -- the dogs were all chained up," said  Special Agent 
Jeff Harp, who supervised the SWAT team.  "They were noisy, but they 
didn't slow us down."

The SWAT teams, wearing helmets and full body armor,  moved in 
quickly, searched the homes and whisked away  the targeted suspects, Harp said.

Court records showed the FBI, local sheriff's deputies  and the state 
Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement used  wiretaps and undercover 
surveillance between October  and January to track several major 
players in North  Richmond's drug trade. Investigators spent months 
determining the structure of the gang and identifying  its leaders.

Much of the investigation was centered on the gang's  alleged ring 
leaders, Bobby Ray Williams, 34, and  Michael Green Johnson, 31, 
court documents showed.

"In particular, Williams and Johnson distribute  narcotics at 
wholesale prices to others either for  further distribution to other 
wholesalers or for  distribution to the end users at the retail or 
'street'  level," Special Agent Davis wrote in an affidavit.

Jose Carlos Batriz, 34, who is accused of supplying the  Trojans with 
drugs, was arrested at his home in  Antioch.

Others arrested Tuesday include Eddie Sherman Thomas,  30, Sherman 
Gay, 43, Mark Gibson, 24, Martin Eugene  Roberts, 42, Stephen Louis 
Montgomery, 39 and Tanya  Walton, 19.

Suspects who remain at large include Leon Wilson, 41,  Demetriz 
Antoine Lewis, 35, Antoine Demetrius Smith,  35, Carl Michael Gatlin, 
35, Terrance Tyrice Thomas,  26, and Leonard Dan Gordon, 32.

Authorities said all the suspects except Batriz are  originally from 
the same area of North Richmond. It was  unclear where they live now.

Court records indicate the defendants went to great  lengths to hide 
where they lived by using cars and cell  phones registered in the 
names of friends or relatives.

Defense attorneys said the arrests came as a surprise  to the 
defendants and their families.

"They were treated like terrorists," said Eric Babcock,  who 
represents Gay. "They were arrested this morning  and taken into 
court on charges that were only unsealed  once they appeared."

Investigators said that, although the gang has not been  dismantled, 
the arrests have cut into its leadership  and could bring some 
measure of peace to North  Richmond, an unincorporated community of 
4,000 people.

The gang has nearly 300 members and associates in North  Richmond and 
surrounding communities, authorities said.

The gang, also called PJT, largely controls the  cocaine, heroin and 
methamphetamine available in North  Richmond, a community with a 
homicide rate six times  greater than the rest of Contra Costa 
County, officials  said. Parker, of the sheriff's office, said there 
have been three killings there so far this year.

Investigators believe nearly 90 percent of the  homicides and 
attempted killings between 1991 and 2004  were related to the Project 
Trojans. In recent years,  North Richmond has averaged about one 
killing a year  per thousand residents, a rate more than twice as 
high as Oakland.

Most residents interviewed Tuesday on the streets of  North Richmond 
shared the hope the arrests would ease  crime, but some speculated 
that younger drug dealers  would emerge to fill the void left by the 
arrests --  and feud with rivals until things shake out.

"It's been getting a little better here. You see new  homes and some 
new people who won't put up this all  this foolishness," said Jethro 
Carr, 63, who has spent  37 years in the community. "But you can 
paint your  house and pick all the trash you want, but it 
doesn't  help if some guy wants to sell dope in front of your  house."
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