When Will America Learn/The War On Drugs

[Anthony]

We know the major problem with drugs in America is seen as a problem in the black community, but Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium & opium is revenue to the Taliban. All the major countries where illicit drugs are produced & enter America are by mostly Caucasians & are sold by blacks. The Middle Eastern's are handing out student visa's to terrorist & the Federal Government are targeting & setting-up black males on the streets of America using other black males as federal informants. I think I touched on this matter in past post with my problems with the Federal Government. I want to be very careful here because if you read my post about President Obama signing the Authorization Act into law you know I could be placed on the FBI watch list. I'm not being schizophrenic. In fact, some members of the government are very sensitive & are acting very schizophrenic.

Click here-->http://www.whosarat.websitetoolbox.com/post/Confidential-Source-557...

[Anthony]

The Federal & Northeast Ohio agents Indicted 72 on Coke-Trafficking Drug Related Charges.

I know, you think, great! Clean up the street, right? But I think back to what an informant named Jerrell Bray said when interviewed.

Bray, 35, would later admit that he had his own motives for working as an informant.

He had dealt crack cocaine since getting out of prison in 2004 and wanted to eliminate his competition. Bray planned to increase his share of the drug market by bringing down rivals.

The way to do that? Pass along information to the DEA that would be used to arrest the rivals.

And if that didn't work, Bray could always lie about who was selling him the drugs. He set up people he hated, those who made fun of the chubby street dealer. Because DEA agent Lucas and Ansari relied on Bray to identify the people selling them drugs, Bray was able to use "stand-ins." He gave his friends cocaine and then told them to meet him with DEA agent Lucas or Ansari. Bray's friends handed the drugs over to the undercover officers, who then paid them. Because no arrests were made at the time of the deals, the stand-ins could walk away, and Bray could later identify others as the dealers.

I can't help but to think, is the federal government cleaning-up the street or are they getting rid of the competition so each state would have to rely on only a few controlled smugglers, wholesalers & distributors? Someone that sell street value are always pawns & also a few whole sale & distributor operators. I know, you think Rick Ross, right?

I say this because local law enforcement, gang task force, drug task force & the federal government are on the frontline of the drug war. What do the local enforcement, gang task force, drug task force & the federal government make-up of??? College graduates, ex-military & informants, right? So after years & decades of fighting this war they have to come to some realistic conclusion that it's a war they can't win, but if they can control & contain it than it could be considered a success if they can make a lot of arrest. How do you contain  something? By controlling it, right? How do you control it?  

I know why Councilman Polensek & Cleveland Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, congratulated the federal agents & local officials & police officers. It was the political thing to do. But let's be honest here, folks take a blind eye & not see the light. The Councilmen are media grandstanding because they both know in their district somebody will wake up this morning selling drugs out of desperation & if they get arrested tonight somebody will be out there tomorrow & somebody will complain to the FBI & the FBI will send in their informants to find the high rollers. The informants will be driving around in luxury cars & regular cars with the tint on the windows. The informants may find a costumer that the dealers trust to drive around with them to gain trust or the informants may find someone to vouch for him or her so they trust him or her. Basically the informants are getting rid of the competition.  If informants see it's an area that's gonna need a supplier that can deliver & the product  doesn't have to be a high quality drug than they will hustle that area. Informants know most inner city people can't afford a high quality & if they can they'll be cutting it down themselves to stretch the product, which will stretch the market & the dollar.    

Councilman Polensek, whose ward encompasses the Collinwood neighborhood said, "I think this is great," said Polensek, who said he was aware of the raids and worked with investigators on the case. "My position is that we should get every one of these two-legged rats. That’s just what they are. Rats. They destroy the soul of a community, and I don’t want them destroying mine." To me this sound like grand standing because we know it's boats, plans cars, trucks that's smuggling drugs into this Nation as I type & it's the wholesalers, distributors & dealers who are targeting the black community to stretch the product.

This is news worthy because of the 72 indictments, but how many convictions will be handed out?

Here's the article:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/06/post_28.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Federal agents and city police officers conducted a synchronized, predawn sweep of suspected drug dens and hideouts throughout East Side Cleveland neighborhoods Tuesday, arresting more than 60 members of what officials called a violent, multi-state cocaine-trafficking gang.

A 122-page, 97-count indictment filed later in the morning showed that federal and local investigators had been tracking the suspected drug dealers for two years, and recorded more than 37,000 cell phone calls with secret FBI wiretaps since September 2011.

U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said the investigation, dubbed "Operation Northwest Express," netted 86 suspects, which was believed to be the largest number of defendants ever charged in a single drug-trafficking indictment in the Northern District of Ohio.

The federal indictment charges 72 suspects with drug-related crimes, such as conspiracy to distribute cocaine, money-laundering, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Another 14 suspects were indicted in Cuyahoga County. Sixteen suspects remain free.

The indictment provides a window into the gang’s hierarchy. Edward Martin of Cleveland was accused of selling large amounts of cocaine to at least a dozen gang members, who then sold the white powder to lower-ranking members for further distribution on the street.

A Georgia man, Walter Williams, regularly traveled to Cleveland to sell kilograms of cocaine to Martin and others, the indictment said. While in the city, Ronald Whatley acted as a chauffeur, driving Williams to the various drug transactions while also acting as a police lookout, according to the charges.

Over the past few years, the gang sold millions of dollars worth of cocaine at up to $34,000 for 2.2 pounds of powder, and about $1,000 an ounce for crack, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Pinjuh, who will prosecute the case.

The indictment contains dozens of pages of transcribed phone calls between suspected gang members, most of it peppered with profanity and what investigators described as code words to disguise the drug transactions. Drug amounts were called "six piece," "ballie," "higgity" and "bizzel." They called a seven-gram pack a "Michael Vick" in reference to the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback’s number seven.

"This investigation and 97-count indictment represent a top-to-bottom dismantlement of a violent criminal organization intent on polluting our neighborhoods with drugs," said Stephen Anthony, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Cleveland office. "With one swoop, it effectively choked off the distribution of drugs in those neighborhoods."

More than 350 agents and officers participated in the early morning raids, Anthony said. All of the arrests went off without incident. Suspects also were arrested in Atlanta, Ga., and Lexington, Ky.

Agents have confiscated more than $200,000 in cash, and have seized at least three homes, cars, guns and jewelry, Pinjuh said.

Cleveland Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell congratulated the federal and

local officials and police officers at an afternoon news conference.

"You guys captured some bad dudes there," said Conwell, who described seven of the suspects as some of the worst drug dealers in his ward.

"These guys have terrorized our neighborhoods for years." Conwell said the residents of his ward had long complained to him about the drug dealers, and he had passed along their concerns to police and FBI agents.

"When they told me they were working on it I thought they were placating me, but I understand why now," Conwell said. "If it had gotten out that could have blown the whole operation."

The investigation almost blew up the afternoon of Jan. 6, when three suspected gang members from Kentucky, accompanied by an unnamed police informant, went to a house on Naumann Avenue near Euclid to sell cocaine to Charles Smith. Police said one of the gang members, Francisco Rodriguez, shot Smith twice in the back, then stole 42 ounces of cocaine and crack, and $30,000.

In a shootout that ensued on Lake Shore Boulevard, an officer shot Chase Downey, 24, of Lexington. He was treated and released into police custody. Police also arrested the two other men, plus a juvenile from Kentucky.

Councilman Polensek, whose ward encompasses the Collinwood neighborhood where the shootout occurred, applauded the sweep by federal agents and city police officers.

"I think this is great," said Polensek, who said he was aware of the raids and worked with investigators on the case. "My position is that we should get every one of these two-legged rats. That’s just what they are. Rats. They destroy the soul of a community, and I don’t want them destroying mine."

Federal agents and city police officers conducted a synchronized, predawn sweep of suspected drug dens and hideouts throughout East Side Cleveland neighborhoods June 12, arresting more than 60 members of what officials called a violent, multi-state cocaine-trafficking gang. These 46 photos were released that afternoon.

http://photos.cleveland.com/4501/gallery/cleveland_cocaine-traffick...