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a consignment basis, a strong indicator of j the cartel’s trust. One example of the in- | creasingly close connection between the Colombians and the ghetto dealers was | uncovered during Operation Pisces II. a | two-year investigation run jointly by the | US. Drug Enforcement Administration and state and local authorities in Califor- nia and Florida. Pisces [I was a money laundering sting aimed at identifi both smugglers and dealers. In a video. taped conversation between two Colombi- an smugglers and detectives who operated the fake money “laundry,” the Colom ans admiringly describe a black trafficker in south Florida. “That s.o.b, he just or. dered and ordered; it was hard to keep him stocked,” one smuggler exclaimed. “Those blacks are really the best ones,” the sec- ond smuggler agreed. { East and West: There is equally little ques- | tion that some of the more aggressive big- | city gangs have begun to spread the drug | | | trade into the heartland. Police from Den- ver to Vancouver report that Li gangs are moving in to establish branch operationsselling rock cocaine. In Atlan Savannah and Montgomery, Ala.. authori- t the Miami Boys are following the . Chicago gangs s Angeles same expansionary patter: have appeared in Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Racine, Wis., and the Jamaican poss seem to be organizing crack outlets almost everywhere. Kansas City authorities r cently managed to break a Jama that began importing crack from i Coast base sometime in 1985 985; the po: operating 75 crack houses that grossed $400,000 a day. After that success. howev. er. Kansas City was invaded from the West Coastas well. In February four members of an L.A-based Blood g were indicted | for selling cocaine, and investigators they have identi Peewees and Wannabees: Street-gang acolvtes with walkie-talkies for lookout duty PHOTOs DY MARR RICHARD: PICTURE UHOUP in their city. “This is the first we've seen an American gang move into town,” says U.S. Attorney Robert Larsen. “They're great entrepreneurs.” The big-city boys have two things going for them. First, they are usually able to buy top-quality cocaine directly from major smugglers at wholesale prices—as little as $10,000 per kilo. The second is that they are better armed and far more violent than the gangs or drug rings they encounter in smaller cities. As a result, they can com- ete successfully on priceand quality—and if those classic business advantages are in. sufficient to establish a beachhead, they intimidate the competition with mayhem and murder. In Atlanta, says police Lt John Woodward, the invading Miami Boys Rea time | | demonstrated the attitude that “we're bud and we'll proveittoyou. . .[they'll] walk up to [their competitors} and just kill ‘em. It's not, ‘I'm going to out-macho you.’ It’s " | going to kill you’ The result. Woodward | says, was 13 homicides in 1987. | Enriched by their drug profits, big-city | gangscan now easily afford the overhead of far-flung operations. The gang may send a scout—often a younger member—to test the market in the target city. [f the first expedition pans out, a larger group will follow to renta ghetto apartment as astash house for volume sales. Woodward says the lookouts and runners are often local. Body- guards may be either locais or towners. But the higher-ups. who co: the stash and count the money. are always members of the invading gang. The amount of cocaine involved, Woodward also says, need not be large—a kilo or so every few days. Bring in “one kilo and | you've got 10.000 bags of crack. and that will supply quite a few litzle housing areas for a few days.” he savs. “You're ti about $25 a bag. or $250,000 per kilo. The | kilo costs [the ni Boys} $10,000 to $12,000 in Miami. so there is a great. great ‘ profit margin here. | The posses: Although there is still some | controversy over just how well organized gangs king ' the American drug are, no one doubts that the Jamaican posses are as | disciplined as they are violent. Many mem } bers are believed to be illegal aliens. and ! the groups themselves are usually based in ; Jamaican-immigrant communities on the i East Coast—New York, Miami, W ; ton, D.C., among others. But their nation- wide spread over the past several years has been staggering. The posses are major fac- tors in the crack trade in most East Coast cities. They are also active in Dallas and Houston, in cities across the Midwest and. re- markably enough, they have recently been spotted in An- Like most an drug gangs. the Ja- maicansare known tohire local helpers when they open acrack hot y.Butthecore group isalways from the islan and no outsiders are allowed to penetrate the upper echelons of shing- awmen say many of the have the P roots in the slums around Kingston Their names reflect that ge- y. The Riverton City p named after a Kingston neighborhood Maverly and Waterhouse pos- ses. (The Jamaicans call them- selves posses after the armed in American Wes like and so are the bar 4 the Shower and ne. NEWSWEEK MARC