OVER 100 GANG MEMBERS CHARGED IN N.Y. DRUG BUST

NEW YORK -- More than 100 members of seven drug gangs, including the
notorious Bloods, were indicted Friday, charged with operating a $5.5
million-a-year crack cocaine business that catered to the
"suit-and-tie" crowd in midtown Manhattan, police and prosecutors said.

Seventy-seven of the 102 defendants charged in what Manhattan District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau called "one of the largest drug busts in
city history" were already in custody.

They will be arraigned Tuesday. The others are being
sought.

The accused are charged with conspiracy, attempted murder, assault,
and gun and drug possession. They face 25 years to life in prison if
convicted on the top count of conspiracy.

Friday's indictments stem from a 10-month investigation by the
Manhattan district attorney and the New York Police Department.

"This is an important case because not only did it identify and
dismantle seven drug gangs ... but it also put out of business gangs
... involved in significant violence," Police Commissioner Howard Safir said.

"The customers of these drug gangs were garment workers and midtown
executives, the S-and-T (suit-and-tie) crowd. It was a major source of
supply for them of drugs," he said.

Safir said it was "a real money-making retail business that operated
in the wholesale garment district."

Prosecutors said 27 of the defendants were members of the Bloods, a
violent street gang that police say had its origins in California in
1970. Bloods carry out their initiation by slashing a stranger's face.

The Bloods' New York division was founded in 1993 at Rikers Island
jail.

Morgenthau said members of the Gangsta Killa Bloods communicated with
one another about the gang's drug activities by flashing signs and
signals and speaking in code. He said gang members, wearing red
scarves or bandannas, met at various midtown locations, including a
Burger King in Times Square.

Gang members were also accused of using youths under the age of 16 to
sell drugs, act as lookouts, or carry crack or cocaine for them to
various midtown locations, the prosecutor said.

Morgenthau said the gangs, working in shifts around the clock,
operated out of a West 38th Street hotel and nearby pool hall where
nickel ($5) or dime ($10) bags of crack cocaine were sold.

"However, if a street-level dealer thought a customer would pay more,
he charged the customer accordingly," Morgenthau said.

Guns, knives, blackjacks and a crossbow with darts were among the
weapons discovered by police when the defendants were arrested.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry