45 ARRESTED IN ASSAULT ON 5 BROOKLYN DRUG GANGS

Five separate drug gangs that operated like a trade association within a
sprawling Brooklyn housing development were dismantled this week after a
six-month investigation, the authorities announced yesterday.

Investigators arrested 45 people, including eight high-level leaders who
together put a stranglehold on residents of the Cypress Hills development,
a complex of more than 30 buildings, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly
said during a news conference.

Each gang operated in an assigned set of buildings where dealers sold drugs
in the hallways and lobbies, as lookouts kept a steady eye out for the
police, Mr. Kelly said. Together, the gangs sold about $1.5 million in
crack, cocaine, heroin and marijuana each year, he said.

The gangs routinely held meetings together and had allowed one another to
operate independently since 1997, said Inspector Steven Powers, the
commanding officer of narcotics operations in northern Brooklyn.

Still, the inspector said, the gangs were made up of violent people and
there had been three homicides at the housing development since the
investigation began.

Several people living at the development said yesterday that they were
hopeful the police sweeps would mark the beginning of a safer era. Others,
however, remained skeptical that the arrests would lead to long-term
change. "They got a drop in the bucket," said a woman who identified
herself as R Davis and the mother of one of the men arrested.

During the investigation, detectives were able to make more than 100
illegal-drug purchases, Mr. Kelly said.