◆ SpookStack

not even 24 years old and he has two cedeses and a Rolex watch.” Says Bill Blanco, another gang specialist in Miami: “Who you are is dictated by the gold chains. the Rolex. the car. And every- body's phones are more than decoration. of course: they are extremely useful in the drug trade. Beepers. which are equally useful to dealers. are now so common among ghetto teenagers that Los Angeles public schools have banned them. got a car phone.” Cellular tele- ” Sume gang veterans say the cocaine trade in south-central L.A. iscontrolled by | 15 w 20 OG.’ ssment that is shared by knowledgeabie law-enforcement | officials. Deputy Chief Levant, who com- : mands a newly formed LAPD unit that specializes in major drugtraffickersamong | the street gangs. says 75 to 100 gangs are | now actively involved in cocaine distribu- / tion. Some of these groups. he says. now have sales totaling up to 31 million a week. “There is a link between the South Ameri- | cans and the street gangs,” Levant That link—the strategic nexus Det the Colombian cocaine cartel and s: level distribution in the United State becoming increasingly visible to inve tors in southern California and elsew There is little question that some i drug traffickers have now establishe rect relationships with top-level Colc an smuggiers. According to Los An County officials. the Colombians are willing to sell drugs to 0.G.’s and rolle _A Jamaican Invasion in West Virginia wit its tidy clapboard : A houses and neat apple : and peach orchards on land : George Washington surveyed" { centuries ago, Martinsburg, ! ' W.Va. (population: 13.000), | seems far from the mean ‘ streets normally patrolled by drug gangs. But over the last | three years, an invasion of . Jamaican drug dealers has turned the home of the Moun- tain State Apple Harvest Fe: tival intoa mecca forcocaine. The Jamaicans first arrived | in Martinsburg as migrant | workers to pick apples and | peaches at harvest time. but : many stayed on to peddle ; coke and crack. Hundreds i squeezed into small apart- | ments in a poor neighborhood called “the Hill” and trans- ! formed several blocks near the center of town into : an open-air drug supermar- | ket. Supplied by couriers } shuttling between Jamaican | gangs in Washington, Miami ; and New York, as many as : From picking apples to selling coke 50 dealers could be found brazenly hawking dope in broad daylight, just three © blocks from the police sta- tion. At times business was so brisk that intersections were clogged with traffic: many cars bore out-of-state license plates. The customers “were all ethnic groups. age grou and every profession.” sa} police chief Jack Strobri “They came riding up on : skateboards. on bikes, in Mer- cedes-Benz cars. in pickup trucks.” Stores in the region | ‘old out of vita- mysterious|. min B: police soon figured out that dealers were using it to “cut” the cocaine. Then the - Jamaicans introduced crac —and started a run on plastic food-storage bags used to package thedrug. Martinsburg’s 28-man_po- lice force carried out small : raids but were overwhelmed - by the dealers. In a region where one or two murders per | year was the norm, 20 homi- i and'crack: A downtown street. WALLY MeNAM SWEEK SEW MAMTINSAURG LICE DEPART cides. all drug related. oc- curred in 18 months as rival dealers fought for control. « Cases of venereal disease shot up as prostitutes imported by the dealers worked the streets. At local schools. stu- dents hired as drug couriers rutted around in expensive @ jogging suits and goid chains. intimidating class- mates and.teachers. A police raid of a Jamaican dealer's house turned up crude photo- graphs of a former homecom- ing queen posing half nude. pieces of crack lying about her. According to law-en- forcement authorities, she later gave birth to a baby fa- thered by the dealer. Needles and knives: Residents | were virtually besieged in | their homes. Theresa Sham- burg was unable to leave her driveway without being of: fered “crack, cocaine or reef- er” by pushers. Discarded needles and knives littered her front yard. She called po- lice but they were unable : drive away the dealers. Or night. when the Jamaicar outside became particular! raucous. Shamburg woke 1 see her husband crouche with a shotgun in one han and a pistol in the other. grin ly waiting for a break-in. nder ‘pressure from th community. local __ polic asked the federal authoritic for help. In fall 1986 some 2C nts from a special feder: drug task force and locai pv lice raided 26 drug dens. resting 35 dealers and se ing a cache of high-power weapons. Police also found “hit lisc” with the names c local judges and law-enforce ment officials. The suspect. arrested insisted the name were targeted only tical curse by Jam: doctors. Even so, three count: magistrates began carryin: guns for self-protection. Street action: The raid pushec the most blatant dealers of the streets—at least for < while. Much of the street ac tion moved down the road t » Charles Town. 16 miles away in a Martinsburg home ST eHtOTO 24 NEWSWEEK MARCH 28. 1988, But many Jamaican dealer: have kept upa flourishing un derground trade in Martins burg. On warm days, Theres: Shamburg once again s dealers congregatiny acros: the street. The Shamburg: will not wait to see what hap pens next. After three yearso: trying, they have finally found an out-of-town buyer for their home. They are movin: Coa house in the count Shamburgs: escape. She don’t thing it anymore.” Mang Mrcces se Martussiurs