MIAMI DRUG GANG, SUSPENDED DETECTIVE CHARGED IN ROUNDUP

MIAMI - A police officer and members of the Boobie Boys gang are
arrested, but the gang's leader is a fugitive.

One of Miami's most savage drug gangs, blamed by police for 35
killings - including a 5-year-old boy - was dismantled Friday with a
roundup targeting a suspended detective and 14 other reputed gang members.

``This was a very ruthless, a very violent gang,'' said Miami- Dade
Police Chief Carlos Alvarez. ``It became quite apparent that we had
basically a drug war on our hands.''

The Boobie Boys gang killed to establish its turf and to retaliate
against rivals as it built a drug empire that smuggled nearly 5 tons
of cocaine from Panama and the Bahamas and delivered to 25 Florida
cities and 12 states, police said.

The gang's favorite method of attack was the drive-by shooting, and
they wounded more than 100 people since 1993, police said. Police
displayed an AK-47 assault rifle, a semiautomatic pistol and other
guns they said the gang used.

``We see the carnage that is, sad to say, the result of the
combination of guns and drugs,'' said Patti Galupo, Miami chief of the
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. She said an AK-47 was
bought ``to go people hunting.''

In a 1995 shooting, a 5-year-old boy was slain with two adults. Two
men were shot dead in another attack at a gas station last year.

A federal indictment Friday charges six defendants with the two sets
of killings. All 15 defendants face possible life terms on a
conspiracy charge alleging an $85 million wholesale drug operation.

Marvin Baker, 41, a 16-year veteran Miami-Dade police officer was
arrested Thursday and charged with drug conspiracy. He was suspended
with pay after he was charged last September in state court with
racketeering conspiracy, armed cocaine trafficking and armed robbery.

Internal investigators accused him of ripping off cocaine dealers
during traffic stops, and federal prosecutors charged he worked with
Boobie Boys leader Kenneth Williams and gang members to steal their
customers' money and cocaine. A $56,000 reward has been posted for
Williams, one of four fugitives.

Eight suspects made their initial court appearances in handcuffs
Friday under the new indictment. All were held without bond and asked
for court-appointed attorneys. Three other gang members were already
in custody.

The case builds on an indictment filed earlier this year against
21-year-old twin brothers Leonard and Lenard Brown. They were
acquitted in state court of a gang hit last December and now face
federal charges in the gas station killings.

The twins' mother, Susan Hall Gibson, known as ``Miss Sue,'' was among
those arrested. She was charged with conspiracy and running a drug
house that produced crack and powder cocaine.