MAN GETS LIFE FOR PART IN CRACK RING

About to be sentenced yesterday to life in prison for "managing" two street
corners where lots of crack cocaine was sold, a convicted North
Philadelphia drug dealer insisted he had been framed.

"I been convicted because I associated with people. That's hard," Anthony
"Chester" Watson, 25, of Oakdale Street near 26th, complained to U.S.
District Judge J. Curtis Joyner. "I might never get a chance to really play
with my daughter again."

Seated behind him, Watson's mother, two sisters, and his daughter's mother
all wept.

"Too late to talk about that," the judge interrupted.

Had he thought about his family earlier, the judge said, Watson might not
be "in this predicament."

Drug dealers like to "live large." They "don't see. . .the potential
penalty they face on a day like today" or "the hurt and pain that everybody
in their family suffers," the judge said.

"I don't desire to see young men. . .going away for life," the judge said.
"It's a waste of mankind."

"Sorry, mom," the defendant said to his mother.

"Sorry to you all," Watson said, near tears.

Moments later the judge imposed the life sentence.

The judge had no choice.

The harsh punishment was required by tough sentencing guidelines, driven
largely by how much crack was sold.

Watson had been caught up in a long-running drug conspiracy and was held
responsible for all the crack sold - more than 193 pounds - by the ring,
regardless of whether he was present.

The crack was sold at two corners - 22nd and Huntingdon streets, and Reese
and York, the latter in the Operation Sunrise area, where a strong effort
is being made by the city to close drug markets.

The direct evidence against Watson wasn't overwhelming but was enough for a
jury to convict him of conspiracy and related charges.