GANGS THRIVING IN S.J. PRISONS

When authorities smashed a street gang that dealt drugs and violence
in Camden, they swept dangerous figures off street corners along Broadway.

But the alleged leader of the Nine Trey Headbustas was nowhere near
the scene of the group's crimes between October 2003 and January 2008.

Investigators assert Michael Anderson, a high-ranking Blood known as
the Original, Original Gangster, oversaw the Headbustas from a state
prison cell -- his home since 1996.

Anderson, a 37-year-old career criminal from Essex County, still
awaits trial on charges that include conspiracy to commit murder,
racketeering and multiple drug offenses. But authorities says the
alleged ability to run a group like the Headbustas from behind bars
reflects the growing reach and sophistication of criminal street gangs.

"They are much more disciplined in what they do, and that's not a
good thing," said Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk, referring to
the spread of nationwide gangs like the Bloods and Crips.

"There's evidence that these gangs are more tightly organized, more
hierarchical," said Lee Seglem, a spokesman for the State Commission
of Investigation. "Some are on the same kind of evolutionary path as
(traditional) organized crime."

The SCI has reported that New Jersey's gangs now "thrive inside
prison walls," saying imprisoned members use smuggled cell phones,
coded letters and even illicit conference calls to direct lawless
acts on distant streets.

In fact, the SCI -- which describes criminal street gangs as "the
most serious crime issue in New Jersey today" -- describes the
state's prisons as "something resembling a branch office for the
recruitment of new members and the furtherance of a criminal
enterprise."

And while the gang presence is growing in prisons, some members are
craftily adopting a lower profile outside the walls.

Those gang members -- who once would have worn red clothing to show
they're Bloods or blue garb to mark a Crip -- now are downplaying
such tell-tale clues. Some are also shunning gang tattoos, says Lt.
Daniel Riccardo of the street-gang unit at the state's Division of
Parole.

"They're seeing the value of not drawing attention to themselves," he
observed of the gangs, which often mark their turf with graffiti.
"It's like anything else: The criminals learn what we've figured out
and they change it."

Indeed, in a May 2009 report, the SCI said a survey of the state's 21
county prosecutors found "they are seeing individuals otherwise known
to be gang members with diminished and/or less obvious tell-tale
tattoos, clothing and other physical markers."

The trend isn't universal. In Camden, young recruits are again
flaunting colors and gang tattoos, said prosecutor's spokesman Jason
Laughlin. "They seem to be more proud and more open about showing
their affiliations," he said of the younger members.

And while gangs largely focus on the violent drug trade, some are
moving toward white-collar crimes like check and credit card fraud,
said Michael Poulton, acting senior supervisory resident agent for
the FBI's Cherry Hill office.

"Gangs are doing whatever they can to make money," Poulton
said.

Local presence

Gang members have a "widespread" presence across New Jersey,
according to the most recent survey conducted in 2007 by the State
Police. But except for occasional hot spots like Camden, the gangs
are "thin on the ground" -- meaning towns usually report fewer than
50 members "and often more like a dozen," that report says.

In South Jersey, for example, the 2007 survey found gang members in
68 percent of Burlington County's communities and 58 percent of
Gloucester County's. But only about 500 gang members lived in both
counties in 2009, according to an FBI report.

In contrast, the State Police survey found gang members in 54 percent
of Camden County communities, a lower level than the neighboring
counties. But the total gang population was much higher in Camden
County -- ranging between 2,500 and 3,500, according to the FBI's
2009 report.

"Gangs are really a societal issue that permeates urban, suburban and
rural areas throughout not only New Jersey but across the country,"
said Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton.

In most South Jersey communities -- 65 percent of those reporting
gang members -- the dominant criminal group is the Bloods, said the
State Police report. That matches the statewide total for the gang,
which the SCI calls an "equal opportunity recruiter."

"Power is in numbers, and the Bloods members are well aware of it,"
said a 2009 report by the Philadelphia/Camden High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area.

In a concern that's unique to this region, about 10 percent of the
South Jersey sample reported a motorcycle club, the Pagans, as their
most serious problem, the State Police said.

In Gloucester County, Dalton said, gangs are active in the drug trade
and have been involved in robberies and some violence. But the
highest level of activity is recruiting new members, he said.

In Camden County, Faulk blames street gangs -- whether independent
drug rings or national gang affiliates -- for more than half of the
violence in Camden in the past two years.

Gang rivalries fueled a killing spree in Camden near the end of 2007
- -- with 10 homicides in January 2008 alone, said Faulk. The city's
murder rate has fallen sharply since then due to a crackdown by law
enforcement.

Faulk said his office has not tracked how many of Camden's homicides
- -- 94 since January 2008 -- were gang-related. He also noted gang
activity in Gloucester Township, Lindenwold and Winslow.

In Burlington County, gang activity is concentrated in Burlington
City, Mount Holly, Pemberton Township and Willingboro, according to
Burlington County Prosecutor Robert Bernardi.

He said national gangs have spread into the county from Camden in the
South and Trenton in the north. But a home-grown group -- Muslims
Over Everything, or M.O.E. -- also plagued Burlington County.

"They were the most organized and violent in the county," Bernardi
said of the gang, which robbed numerous banks in 2008. A series of
targeted initiatives has wiped out the gang, Bernardi said.

Feeling you belong

Gangs attract members for both emotional and economic reasons, law
enforcement officials say.

"Gangs do provide a feeling that you belong to something and that
someone cares about you," said Tim Deery, a supervisory narcotics
agent for Pennsylvania's Office of Attorney General. That agency's
investigation of an alleged crystal meth ring tied to the Outlaws
Motorcycle Club led to the arrests of 40 people in August, including
10 South Jersey suspects.

And gangs can help members with their day-to-day lives, offering a
job or other forms of financial support, as well as a sense of
personal security.

"They will provide a lot of things that normally a family will
provide for a kid," said John Lore, a law professor and co-director
of the Children's Justice Clinic at Rutgers School of Law in Camden.

Unlike families, gangs also provide the feeling that someone is
afraid of you.

"You have that 'muscle' aspect," said Andrew Rongaus, a Pennsylvania
deputy attorney general who's prosecuting the crystal-meth case.
"They're scary dudes."

That fear can help boost profits from drug sales, extortion and other
crimes. "People who may be competitors are less likely to mess with
you," observed Rongaus.

Gangs also make financial sense in sales-driven businesses like the
drug trade, the prosecutor said.

"It's like when you go to a warehouse club. You buy in bulk and you
get a better price," he observed. "At the end of the day, they're in
it to make money."

And just like conventional businesses, national gangs are installing
more formal leadership structures as they grow.

"The largest Bloods sets in New Jersey . . have adopted a traditional
organized-crime structure similar to the Mafia," the SCI noted in its
report. "They maintain a strict internal ranking system for members
and borrow terms . . such as 'capo' and 'don.' "

Authorities are ratcheting up their efforts, too.

"We're getting more sophisticated as well," said Deirdre Fedkenheuer
at the state Department of Corrections, which now deploys trained
dogs to sniff out cell phones.

The DOC seized 226 cell phones from its prisons and 165 from halfway
houses between August 2008 and July 2009. The smuggled phones
typically are prepaid models, and inmates often hide memory cards
loaded with gang-related numbers for use when a phone is available,
authorities say.

"We're trying to convince the federal government to enact legislation
that would allow the jamming of cell-phone signals at prisons," noted
Matt Schuman, another DOC spokesman. "It is really critically
important to limit cell phone use at prisons."

DOC also routinely interviews incoming inmates to spot possible gang
affiliations, then shares its intelligence with county jails and law
enforcement agencies.

But the SCI report says gang members regularly manipulate prison
systems -- including the conventional pay-phone service and cash
accounts -- to further criminal activities. They shake down
vulnerable inmates and their families, corrupt prison staffers, and
deal in drugs and other contraband. Some even rent time on their
cell phones, the SCI noted.

In court records, state authorities detail wiretapped calls made by
Anderson, the alleged leader of the Headbustas, from Trenton State
Prison. The calls went to the cell phone of a Newark woman, who is
charged with illegally connecting Anderson with other gang members.

In one call, accused gang member Nathaniel "Finesse" Clay in Camden
complains to Anderson about a higher-ranking Headbusta who allegedly
wants a weekly cut from cocaine sales of $1,000 -- "a stack."

In another, Anderson tells Clay that he needs an "O" delivered to
North Jersey -- an alleged reference to an ounce of cocaine,
according to state authorities.

(In those often-cryptic conversations, the court record notes,
Anderson and Clay regularly replaced C's with B's -- turning one
woman's name from Celeste to Beleste, for instance. That practice is
a Bloods tradition meant to show disrespect for the rival Crips.)

The gangland presence in prison -- more than 4,600 of the state's
22,000 inmates are gang members, according to the SCI -- helps
recruit members from newly arrived inmates.

It also allows gangs to threaten those members who cooperate with
investigators in exchange for a lighter sentence.

"There's such an outreach (for gangs) in prison," said Deery. "They
have a long arm all over the place."

But more sophisticated gangs are not less dangerous
gangs.

"As long as you have that (criminal activity) going on, you're going
to have recurring outbreaks of violence," warned Seglem at the SCI.

Law enforcement authorities express confidence in their ability to
thwart the gangs. One sign of success: Of the 15 accused Headbustas
named in a July 2008 indictment, 11 have pleaded guilty.

And an initiative launched by the Governor's Office in the spring of
2008 netted at least 258 suspected gang members in South Jersey and
530 statewide.

But even as gang members are taken down and violence falls in places
like Camden, authorities know the battle is far from over.

"This is not a problem that is going to disappear in the next year or
two," said Bernardi in Burlington County. "I think we are left with
this for decades to come."