ANNUAL CHERRY BOMB TRADE FIZZLES

Three teens with buzz cuts were slouching against a park bench in Portsmouth
Square in Chinatown, looking to make a score.

Wearing baggy jeans and gold chains, the trio said they weren't interested
in drugs or alcohol, but an even more sought-after commodity this time of
year -- fireworks.

"You gotta be careful," one of the teens warned, his eyes alert for sellers.
"The cops are everywhere."

Pyrotechnic fans have long seen Chinatown as the fireworks hub of the Bay
Area, and the weeks before the Fourth of July are the peak sales time. But
merchants and residents say this year's sales have slowed to a trickle after
a crackdown by police.

"I've seen the results," said the Rev. Norman Fong, program director of the
Chinatown Resource Center and a Presbyterian minister. "Before, you could
see kids hanging out in Portsmouth Square and Grant Avenue making sales. The
tourists would come driving up, and they'd go right up to their cars. Now
the cops aren't allowing that."

A big bust at a Bayview house two weeks ago netted more than 1,000 pounds of
illegal fireworks, including the highly explosive M-80s and M-100s, which
respectively have the force of a one-eighth and one-quarter stick of
dynamite. Police believe the bust cut off the main supply to street sellers
before the holiday.

Police also stepped up patrols by uniformed and undercover officers at the
end of the school year, when some teens take up fireworks sales as a summer
job. Twenty-two "runners" -- who broker the on-the-street deals -- have been
arrested for misdemeanor sales in recent weeks, according to the district
attorney's office.

The crackdown has proven frustrating for buyers who are used to finding
bottle rockets, cherry bombs and roman candles in the neighborhood.

"We watched this one guy for five or six hours (Wednesday)," said Sgt.
George Rosko of the Fireworks Suppression Unit at Central Station. "He went
all over the place and he couldn't find anyone to sell to him."

The crackdown was prompted in part by the May explosion on 19th Avenue that
destroyed one house and damaged four others. Police said the blast was
caused by the ignition of a large cache of fireworks that were being
manufactured in the basement of the home.

The explosion shocked neighbors and galvanized the Police Department to
launch its Fireworks Abatement Task Force earlier than usual to enforce The
City's zero-tolerance policy regarding fireworks.

"That was kind of an awareness signal for everyone," said District Attorney
Terence Hallinan. "That made everyone recognize that what we're really
talking about is bombs, not just firecrackers."

Confiscations of fireworks have declined in the last several years, Rosko
said. Police have seized only about 3,000 pounds of fireworks in the last
year -- far less than the 8,000 pounds they nabbed in 1995 as part of an
operation that jailed three out of the four major fireworks distributors in
Chinatown.

Fong, who grew up in Chinatown, recalls that selling fireworks was
considered a relatively benign occupation.

"It was a source of income for a lot of kids," Fong said. "When I was a kid,
I did. You would sell a brick of firecrackers and you could make about $8. .
. . This was the place to come for fireworks and everyone knew it."

The attitude of tolerance among community leaders and police changed as the
sale of fireworks increasingly became linked to gang violence. In 1995,
seven people were shot on Stockton Street in a turf battle between rival
Asian gangs over fireworks sales, then estimated to be a $1 million-a-year
business.

About 80 percent of the fireworks sold in Chinatown are Chinese imports,
with the rest produced in Mexico or in makeshift labs in the Bay Area. The
local labs have been the chief concern of law enforcement officials
recently, because of the threat of a repeat of the 19th Avenue explosion.
When police raided a house on Shafter Avenue in Bayview in June, they found
70 cases of explosives in a downstairs bedroom. The couple who owned the
house told police they had no idea their sons, ages 17 and 20, had agreed to
store the fireworks.

The cache of fireworks included M-80s and M-100s as well as jumping jacks,
thunder bombs and mortar bombs, all three made with flash powder, an
explosive material that is easy to ignite. An artist's workshop nearby that
housed a fireworks lab exploded in 1986, killing nine people.

"When you have that many boxes of fireworks with that much flash powder
stacked to the ceiling, all you need is one spark," said Assistant District
Attorney Jean Daly, who prosecutes explosives cases. "They are highly
unstable, and sometimes static or even friction can cause them to just blow."

Despite the risks, the lure of the fireworks trade is strong for many
teenagers and young adults. Many are attracted to the money, because the
cheaply made explosives can sell for 10 times their cost. The distributors
prefer juveniles, who are likely to face lighter sentences if arrested.

Supervisor Leland Yee said demand for fireworks around the Fourth of July
and Chinese New Year will continue to fuel sales, despite the best efforts
of police.

"It was around when I was a little kid," said Yee, who grew up on Stockton
Street at Pacific Avenue. "I think it will be ongoing even when my
grandchildren are around. What's important is that we don't allow a wanton
disregard for safety."

Yee said he plans to invite members of the Asian American communities to a
meeting next spring to discuss youth violence and gangs. Fireworks will be
an important part of the discussion, Yee said.

Rosko is convinced the police effort will dissuade fireworks seekers from
the suburbs from coming to Chinatown. "We're seeing fewer buyers, but the
buyers are still coming," Rosko said. "It will take a few more years, but
people will eventually get the message. The people this year who wasted
hours walking and driving around Chinatown -- these people won't come back."

1998 San Francisco Examiner

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett