Pubdate: Mon, 29 Mar 2010
Source: Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)
Copyright: 2010 Courier-Post
Contact:  http://www.courierpostonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/826
Authors: Jim Walsh, and George Mast

GANGS THRIVING IN S.J. PRISONS

When authorities smashed a street gang that dealt drugs  and violence
in Camden, they swept dangerous figures  off street corners along Broadway.

But the alleged leader of the Nine Trey Headbustas was  nowhere near
the scene of the group's crimes between  October 2003 and January 2008.

Investigators assert Michael Anderson, a high-ranking  Blood known as
the Original, Original Gangster, oversaw  the Headbustas from a state
prison cell -- his home  since 1996.

Anderson, a 37-year-old career criminal from Essex  County, still
awaits trial on charges that include  conspiracy to commit murder,
racketeering and multiple  drug offenses. But authorities says the
alleged ability  to run a group like the Headbustas from behind bars
reflects the growing reach and sophistication of  criminal street gangs.

"They are much more disciplined in what they do, and  that's not a
good thing," said Camden County Prosecutor  Warren Faulk, referring to
the spread of nationwide  gangs like the Bloods and Crips.

"There's evidence that these gangs are more tightly  organized, more
hierarchical," said Lee Seglem, a  spokesman for the State Commission
of Investigation.  "Some are on the same kind of evolutionary path as
(traditional) organized crime."

The SCI has reported that New Jersey's gangs now  "thrive inside
prison walls," saying imprisoned members  use smuggled cell phones,
coded letters and even  illicit conference calls to direct lawless
acts on  distant streets.

In fact, the SCI -- which describes criminal street  gangs as "the
most serious crime issue in New Jersey  today" -- describes the
state's prisons as "something  resembling a branch office for the
recruitment of new  members and the furtherance of a criminal
enterprise."

And while the gang presence is growing in prisons, some  members are
craftily adopting a lower profile outside  the walls.

Those gang members -- who once would have worn red  clothing to show
they're Bloods or blue garb to mark a  Crip -- now are downplaying
such tell-tale clues. Some  are also shunning gang tattoos, says Lt.
Daniel  Riccardo of the street-gang unit at the state's  Division of
Parole.

"They're seeing the value of not drawing attention to  themselves," he
observed of the gangs, which often mark  their turf with graffiti.
"It's like anything else: The  criminals learn what we've figured out
and they change  it."

Indeed, in a May 2009 report, the SCI said a survey of  the state's 21
county prosecutors found "they are  seeing individuals otherwise known
to be gang members  with diminished and/or less obvious tell-tale
tattoos,  clothing and other physical markers."

The trend isn't universal. In Camden, young recruits  are again
flaunting colors and gang tattoos, said  prosecutor's spokesman Jason
Laughlin. "They seem to be  more proud and more open about showing
their  affiliations," he said of the younger members.

And while gangs largely focus on the violent drug  trade, some are
moving toward white-collar crimes like  check and credit card fraud,
said Michael Poulton,  acting senior supervisory resident agent for
the FBI's  Cherry Hill office.

"Gangs are doing whatever they can to make money,"  Poulton
said.

Local presence

Gang members have a "widespread" presence across New  Jersey,
according to the most recent survey conducted  in 2007 by the State
Police. But except for occasional  hot spots like Camden, the gangs
are "thin on the  ground" -- meaning towns usually report fewer than
50  members "and often more like a dozen," that report  says.

In South Jersey, for example, the 2007 survey found  gang members in
68 percent of Burlington County's  communities and 58 percent of
Gloucester County's. But  only about 500 gang members lived in both
counties in  2009, according to an FBI report.

In contrast, the State Police survey found gang members  in 54 percent
of Camden County communities, a lower  level than the neighboring
counties. But the total gang  population was much higher in Camden
County -- ranging  between 2,500 and 3,500, according to the FBI's
2009  report.

"Gangs are really a societal issue that permeates  urban, suburban and
rural areas throughout not only New  Jersey but across the country,"
said Gloucester County  Prosecutor Sean Dalton.

In most South Jersey communities -- 65 percent of those  reporting
gang members -- the dominant criminal group  is the Bloods, said the
State Police report. That  matches the statewide total for the gang,
which the SCI  calls an "equal opportunity recruiter."

"Power is in numbers, and the Bloods members are well  aware of it,"
said a 2009 report by the  Philadelphia/Camden High Intensity Drug
Trafficking  Area.

In a concern that's unique to this region, about 10  percent of the
South Jersey sample reported a  motorcycle club, the Pagans, as their
most serious  problem, the State Police said.

In Gloucester County, Dalton said, gangs are active in  the drug trade
and have been involved in robberies and  some violence. But the
highest level of activity is  recruiting new members, he said.

In Camden County, Faulk blames street gangs -- whether  independent
drug rings or national gang affiliates --  for more than half of the
violence in Camden in the  past two years.

Gang rivalries fueled a killing spree in Camden near  the end of 2007
- -- with 10 homicides in January 2008  alone, said Faulk. The city's
murder rate has fallen  sharply since then due to a crackdown by law
enforcement.

Faulk said his office has not tracked how many of  Camden's homicides
- -- 94 since January 2008 -- were  gang-related. He also noted gang
activity in Gloucester  Township, Lindenwold and Winslow.

In Burlington County, gang activity is concentrated in  Burlington
City, Mount Holly, Pemberton Township and  Willingboro, according to
Burlington County Prosecutor  Robert Bernardi.

He said national gangs have spread into the county from  Camden in the
South and Trenton in the north. But a  home-grown group -- Muslims
Over Everything, or M.O.E.  -- also plagued Burlington County.

"They were the most organized and violent in the  county," Bernardi
said of the gang, which robbed  numerous banks in 2008. A series of
targeted  initiatives has wiped out the gang, Bernardi said.

Feeling you belong

Gangs attract members for both emotional and economic  reasons, law
enforcement officials say.

"Gangs do provide a feeling that you belong to  something and that
someone cares about you," said Tim  Deery, a supervisory narcotics
agent for Pennsylvania's  Office of Attorney General. That agency's
investigation  of an alleged crystal meth ring tied to the Outlaws
Motorcycle Club led to the arrests of 40 people in  August, including
10 South Jersey suspects.

And gangs can help members with their day-to-day lives,  offering a
job or other forms of financial support, as  well as a sense of
personal security.

"They will provide a lot of things that normally a  family will
provide for a kid," said John Lore, a law  professor and co-director
of the Children's Justice  Clinic at Rutgers School of Law in Camden.

Unlike families, gangs also provide the feeling that  someone is
afraid of you.

"You have that 'muscle' aspect," said Andrew Rongaus, a  Pennsylvania
deputy attorney general who's prosecuting  the crystal-meth case.
"They're scary dudes."

That fear can help boost profits from drug sales,  extortion and other
crimes. "People who may be  competitors are less likely to mess with
you," observed  Rongaus.

Gangs also make financial sense in sales-driven  businesses like the
drug trade, the prosecutor said.

"It's like when you go to a warehouse club. You buy in  bulk and you
get a better price," he observed. "At the  end of the day, they're in
it to make money."

And just like conventional businesses, national gangs  are installing
more formal leadership structures as  they grow.

"The largest Bloods sets in New Jersey . . have adopted  a traditional
organized-crime structure similar to the  Mafia," the SCI noted in its
report. "They maintain a  strict internal ranking system for members
and borrow  terms . . such as 'capo' and 'don.' "

Authorities are ratcheting up their efforts, too.

"We're getting more sophisticated as well," said  Deirdre Fedkenheuer
at the state Department of  Corrections, which now deploys trained
dogs to sniff  out cell phones.

The DOC seized 226 cell phones from its prisons and 165  from halfway
houses between August 2008 and July 2009.  The smuggled phones
typically are prepaid models, and  inmates often hide memory cards
loaded with  gang-related numbers for use when a phone is available,
authorities say.

"We're trying to convince the federal government to  enact legislation
that would allow the jamming of  cell-phone signals at prisons," noted
Matt Schuman,  another DOC spokesman. "It is really critically
important to limit cell phone use at prisons."

DOC also routinely interviews incoming inmates to spot  possible gang
affiliations, then shares its  intelligence with county jails and law
enforcement  agencies.

But the SCI report says gang members regularly  manipulate prison
systems -- including the conventional  pay-phone service and cash
accounts -- to further  criminal activities. They shake down
vulnerable inmates  and their families, corrupt prison staffers, and
deal  in drugs and other contraband. Some even rent time on  their
cell phones, the SCI noted.

In court records, state authorities detail wiretapped  calls made by
Anderson, the alleged leader of the  Headbustas, from Trenton State
Prison. The calls went  to the cell phone of a Newark woman, who is
charged  with illegally connecting Anderson with other gang  members.

In one call, accused gang member Nathaniel "Finesse"  Clay in Camden
complains to Anderson about a  higher-ranking Headbusta who allegedly
wants a weekly  cut from cocaine sales of $1,000 -- "a stack."

In another, Anderson tells Clay that he needs an "O"  delivered to
North Jersey -- an alleged reference to an  ounce of cocaine,
according to state authorities.

(In those often-cryptic conversations, the court record  notes,
Anderson and Clay regularly replaced C's with  B's -- turning one
woman's name from Celeste to  Beleste, for instance. That practice is
a Bloods  tradition meant to show disrespect for the rival  Crips.)

The gangland presence in prison -- more than 4,600 of  the state's
22,000 inmates are gang members, according  to the SCI -- helps
recruit members from newly arrived  inmates.

It also allows gangs to threaten those members who  cooperate with
investigators in exchange for a lighter  sentence.

"There's such an outreach (for gangs) in prison," said  Deery. "They
have a long arm all over the place."

But more sophisticated gangs are not less dangerous
gangs.

"As long as you have that (criminal activity) going on,  you're going
to have recurring outbreaks of violence,"  warned Seglem at the SCI.

Law enforcement authorities express confidence in their  ability to
thwart the gangs. One sign of success: Of  the 15 accused Headbustas
named in a July 2008  indictment, 11 have pleaded guilty.

And an initiative launched by the Governor's Office in  the spring of
2008 netted at least 258 suspected gang  members in South Jersey and
530 statewide.

But even as gang members are taken down and violence  falls in places
like Camden, authorities know the  battle is far from over.

"This is not a problem that is going to disappear in  the next year or
two," said Bernardi in Burlington  County. "I think we are left with
this for decades to  come." 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D