DISTRIBUTION PROCESS INCLUDES LOCAL DEALERS

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents say most of the Valley's
heroin, cocaine and marijuana comes from New York, Arizona and Texas.

"In western Pennsylvania, you also get some drugs from Michigan and Ohio,"
said Robin Baggio, an analyst for the National Drug Intelligence Agency.

"There are also groups in western Pennsylvania - they go out and bring it
back, too," Baggio said.

Typically, well-organized gangs move heroin and other drugs to smaller
distribution cities such as Austin, Texas, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, where
suppliers - who are usually gang members or people who work for them - sell
to street level dealers.

Those dealers could be affiliated with the gang or independent dealers,
anti-drug experts explained.

At the street level, especially in the Valley, dealers and their assistants
are usually part of loosely organized groups rather than gangs that have
more structure.

Whether they work at the supply, distribution or street level, people in
the drug trade have a common denominator: a hunger for money and demand for
respect, said Maj. Ty Blocker, who directs the state police drug division.

Today's suppliers aren't afraid to use violence in their quest for money,
said Robert Ward, who supervises the National Drug Intelligence Center's
organized crime and violence unit.

"The larger, more organized gangs will try to move into other territories
... and they will try to displace homegrown groups," Ward said. "The bigger
and 'badder' ones are usually from inner cities."

Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Atlanta and Detroit drug dealers have been arrested
in the Valley in recent years. Some North Side and Wilkinsburg streets are
popular Pittsburgh bases for suppliers whose drugs are sold in the Valley.

Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Regina McDonald, who runs the narcotics and vice
squad, said detectives are aware of people from across the Valley and
elsewhere driving to the city to find drugs.

Allegheny County Police Superintendent Kenneth Fulton said his force
frequently investigates shootings and drug crimes involving people from the
Valley.

People from Westmoreland County visit the city's drug dealers on a regular
basis. So do dealers and users from Aliquippa and Blairsville, said
Allegheny County Police Lt. Harold Kline.

"Some New Kensington people go to New York for crack and to Philadelphia
for heroin. Some also go to Pittsburgh for drugs," added Westmoreland
County Detective Terry Kuhns.

"We're seeing an increase in crack dealers also selling Oxy (OxyContin).
Before they might sell a little weed (marijuana). It's because of the
profit margin.

"I remember some of these people coming on the bus from Pittsburgh. Some of
them were 13, 14, 15, and they had their bus passes and they were coming to
see the girls," Kuhns said. "We see a lot of girls from Armstrong and
Butler counties. They visit, wind up using, and then they're hooked and
become hookers," he said.

Butler must be circled on the map for some New Kensington and Arnold drug
dealers, city police officers there said.

Since the spring of 2001, Butler County detectives have arrested at least
six New Kensington and Arnold people and several from the southern part of
the Butler County for selling drugs.

Anthony D. Green and Azamies Hughes, who gave their address as Woodmont
Avenue, New Kensington, were arrested May 11, 2001, in Butler.

Green faced four drug charges and assaulting a police officer until last
May when the charges were dropped.

Green is awaiting trial on other charges in Westmoreland County.

Hughes still is charged with four drug offenses in the Butler case, a
Butler County clerk said.

Last November three New Kensington residents were arrested in Butler during
a drug raid by Butler County District Attorney detectives.

Earlier, two other men were arrested for robbery. One also was wanted by
Westmoreland County authorities for drug charges.

"We see people from New Kensington, Arnold and Lower Burrell selling in the
county," said Armstrong County District Attorney Scott Andreassi.

"We're finding that Route 28 is an access way," he said.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said better
anti-drug education is needed to stem the problem. Meanwhile, he wants to
make his office's drug investigations section, known as DAYNET, more effective.

Zappala wants to move part of the DAYNET to Harrison, which is becoming
known as a focal point for heroin sales and use in the Valley.

The county now has DAYNET offices in McKeesport, Dormont and the Mon
Valley, Zappala said.

He wants more of an emphasis in the Valley and Robinson Township.

"The population is moving in that direction," he said.

"Profit is the motivator," said William Fall, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons
specialist working with the National Drug Intelligence Center.

"There is a tremendous mark-up in drugs outside the metro areas. They get
two or three times the amount for drugs" in places like the Valley, he
said. When suppliers move into smaller areas they irritate local dealers
who refuse to share the territory.

That's what has happened in places such as Wichita, Kan., and Memphis,
Tenn., Fall said.

Memphis residents suffered running gun battles between Chicago's Latin
Kings gang and local dealers until the warring factions reached a truce, he
said. Latin Kings now supply the drugs that the locals distribute.