DRUG DEALERS SEARCH FOR NEW TERRITORIES

Towns In Surrounding States Know Harvey

Harvey drug dealers have hit the road this year.

From downstate to Indiana to the dairy state and possibly the land of
10,000 lakes, drug peddlers have set up shop in midwestern towns to fetch a
juicy price for their rocks of crack cocaine.

The mere mention of the city of Harvey rings familiar to police departments
hundreds of miles away.

"Yes, we have seen gang people from the Harvey-Markham area selling drugs
here," said Jay Sauer, public information officer for the Peoria police
department.

"It's hard to actually get a sense of whether it's increasing, but let me
put it this way: You don't notice when the mosquitoes are not biting, but
you do notice when they are biting."

Bloomington, Ill., police have identified more than 100 young men from
Harvey and Markham, most aged 18 to 24, who have made their way to
Bloomington from January to March of this year.

Police said they are gang members pushing drugs.

"It hasn't peaked yet," said Jack McQueen, crime analyst for the
Bloomington Police Department.

Though Bloomington experienced a similar migration between 1994 and 1996
when about 140 Harvey and Markham gang members drifted into the city, this
time the influx is more alarming.

"These gang members are more young, more aggressive and more violent. We
have a city with low unemployment and a lot of disposable income, and the
gangs know it," McQueen said.

Police have responded to numerous calls reporting fights and gun
violations, he added, such as occurred last weekend.

According to Bloomington police, a gun was fired from a moving car during a
fight between a Harvey man and a Bloomington man. No one was hurt, and no
charges are expected to be filed.

Police said an April shoot-out involving Harvey natives was the first
gang-related shooting in more than a year in Bloomington.

A typical rock of crack cocaine sells for about $20 or more, depending on
size, in Peoria and Bloomington; a rock of crack cocaine costs about $10 in
the Chicago area, police said.

In Kokomo, Ind., where a rock of crack cocaine runs about $50, drug turf
wars have raged this year between Harvey and Kokomo natives, leading to
multiple shootings and one death.

Seven Harvey men are charged with crimes in connection with drug wars in
Kokomo, including one for attempted murder in May. And David Nesbitt, 28,
of Harvey, was shot fatally in February in Kokomo.

In Charleston, Ill. - population 20,000 - police have been dealing with
Harvey and Markham drug pushers for two years.

Bigger profits, small-town cops, and the prospect of less gang warfare over
street corners seem to be attracting the gang bangers away from their
Chicago and south suburban homes.

Harvey Police Cmdr. Andrew Joshua said his department's intense drug busts
over the last couple of years have encouraged dealers to get out of the
business or get out of town.

State police statistics for Harvey show that arrests for cannabis
possession are up 135 percent during the first six months of 2000, compared
to the first six months of 1997. Arrests for crack cocaine and heroine
possession are up 101 percent, and arrests for possession of drug
paraphernalia are up 1,400 percent during the same time.

Joshua said he believes many Harvey dealers have relocated to St. Paul,
Minn., and Milwaukee.

A spokesman for St. Paul police said the city has had fewer Chicago drug
dealers relocating to the city recently, but wouldn't comment on the number
of Harvey and Markham gang members coming to St. Paul.

A sergeant in gang investigations for the Milwaukee Police Department said
he has not noticed gang members from Harvey or Markham in Milwaukee.

Police said the difference in drug prices between a major metropolitan area
like Chicago and smaller neighboring cities is simple supply and demand.
There are more drugs, and more competition among gangs to supply them, in
the big cities.

In the Chicago area, cocaine prices have fallen over the past 15 years, and
the purity level has substantially increased, accounting for the heightened
competition among drug dealers.

In the mid-1980s, an ounce of powdered cocaine (used to make crack cocaine)
cost between $2,400 to $2,800. Today, that ounce costs about $1,000,
according to Mark Henry, director of the DuPage County Enforcement Unit,
which works with the state police on gangs and narcotics.

Ten years ago, powdered cocaine sold in major cities typically was 50
percent to 60 percent pure; today, it's usually 80 percent to 90 percent
pure, said Mike Hillebrand of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

"When the gangs move to smaller cities, the police may not be used to
dealing with crack," said Detective Mike Montie of the Madison, Wis.,
Police Department. "When crack first came here in the early '90s, I didn't
know what it looked like. Now I do."

Montie said there is a regular flow of drug peddlers, such as the Gangster
Disciples, from the Chicago area to Madison, where the price of a rock of
crack is $20.

From Madison, drug dealers move to smaller cities like Eau Claire, with a
population of 60,000. There, powdered cocaine is a big seller, and a rock
of crack sells for about $25.

"The motivation to move here is a lack of having to fight for street
corners," said Eau Claire police Sgt. Ed Sturgal. "It's new territory they
think nobody has staked any claims to."