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."