OFFICER, 5 OTHERS ARRESTED IN GANG PROBE

A suspended Miami-Dade police officer who allegedly conspired to deal
drugs with members of the Boobie Boys, one of the county's most
notoriously violent street gangs, was among six arrested Thursday
under a sealed federal indictment.

Among his co-defendants are alleged gang members convicted of numerous
other crimes: drug possession, burglary, robbery, obstructing police,
manslaughter, lewd behavior with a child, possession of a firearm by a
felon and other offenses.

Marvin Baker, 41, a 16-year veteran assigned to the Carol City
district, is already facing state charges of racketeering conspiracy,
armed cocaine trafficking and armed robbery with a firearm.

He was charged Sept. 4 by internal investigators at his own department
for his alleged involvement in a scheme to use bogus traffic stops to
rip off cocaine from drug dealers. He has been suspended with pay ever
since.

Prosecutors declined to discuss the case.

Thursday's sweep was the latest in a string of gang arrests stemming
from a longstanding federal and state investigation of the gang --
thought by authorities to be a criminal enterprise responsible for
some 15 murders.

Proving those assertions, however, has been difficult. In December, a
Miami-Dade jury acquitted twin brothers believed by authorities to be
Boobie hitmen in one of those shootings. The gang's alleged leader,
Kenneth Sorrell "Boobie" Williams, remains a fugitive.

All those arrested are from Miami. In addition to Baker, they
are:

Susan Hall Gibson, 46; Malcolm Maurice Shaw, 29, who has previous
convictions including manslaughter and threats with a firearm; Ronald
John Raye, 28, who was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts on a
child under 16 in 1988; Benjamin Keith Johnson, 27; with convictions
for possession of cocaine, burglary, robbery with a firearm and
obstructing a police officer; and Wayne Sylveste Baptiste, 26, a
habitual offender with numerous previous convictions including of
possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a forged driver's
license.