LOW-LEVEL DEALERS TARGETED IN DRUG SWEEP

They Keep Crime Rate High, Police Contend

By Operating under the assumption that the city's stubbornly high crime
rate is being fueled by street-corner drug dealers, not the wholesalers and
kingpins, the New Orleans Police Department targeted small-time pushers in
its latest drug sweep Monday.

The fact that 15 of the 201 suspects police were looking for were found
already behind bars seemed to bolster the theory. Two other suspects were
recovering from gunshot wounds and a third, Lenny Smith, 20, was fatally
shot on Sept. 12.

"It makes you know that we're targeting the right people," Superintendent
Eddie Compass said. "To keep the murder rate down we have to take it to the
front lines. We had a lot of investigations into midlevel and upper-level
drug dealers which have been very successful, but the individuals who are
actually perpetrators and victims of a lot of the murders are from the
lower levels."

With help from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Jefferson Parish
Sheriff's Office and state Department of Probation and Parole, the New
Orleans narcotics task force began knocking on doors at 5 a.m., rounding up
suspects who allegedly made hand-to-hand drug sales to undercover officers
during the past three months.

The 15 suspects already locked up had been arrested on unrelated charges by
other police units, some of them within days after they allegedly sold
drugs to the narcotics squad officers.

By midafternoon Monday, 74 suspects on the list were in custody, booked on
charges that included distribution of heroin, crack, powder cocaine and
marijuana. A few suspects were booked with distribution of fake drugs,
commonly known on the streets as "bunk."

One suspect, who answered the door with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol in his
waistband, also was with hit with a weapons charge.

Operating under the code name "Playin' with the Fellas," members of the
Major Narcotics Division relied heavily on audio and videotape during drug
transactions to help the cases stick in court, Compass said. In addition,
the Orleans Parish district attorney's office was updated during the course
of the operation to make sure police and prosecutors were on the same page.

Another boost came from the state Department of Probation and Parole, said
Capt. Timothy Bayard, commander of the narcotics squad. By sharing the list
of suspects with probation agents and bringing them along for the sweep,
the task force was able to identify dozens of suspects who are on probation
for prior felonies.

"The revocation paperwork for a lot of these guys is already being
processed by the probation department," Bayard said. "These are individuals
who aren't going to get the chance to get out on bond."

Most of the drug buys, Bayard said, were made by undercover officers
driving "cool cars," unmarked older vehicles that are rotated frequently to
avoid raising suspicions among dealers. The officers found willing sellers
in every corner of the city, from Algiers to the Jefferson Parish border in
Hollygrove. Seven of the suspects are from Jefferson Parish, police said.

All but a handful of the suspects are males, with ages ranging from 16 to 47.