Pubdate: Thu, 29 Jul 2004
Source: Herald-Palladium, The (MI)
Copyright: 2004 The Herald-Palladium
Contact:  http://www.heraldpalladium.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1378
Author: Scott Aiken
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

TASK FORCE TARGETS DRUG DEALERS

BENTON HARBOR -- After two nights of rioting shattered a Benton Harbor 
neighborhood last summer, Larry Carter suggested that parents could help 
prevent future violence by being good role models for children.

Now the 35-year-old Carter is facing 27 years in federal prison for dealing 
crack cocaine through a network that flooded Benton Harbor with kilograms 
of the drug. Officials said more arrests are anticipated as a Violent 
Crimes Task Force created after the June rioting keeps up the pressure to 
disrupt gangs and dry up the flow of drugs in the Benton Harbor area.

"We have a united front against the gang leaders in Benton Harbor," FBI 
Supervisor Jim Robertson said Wednesday.

Robertson, of the FBI's Grand Rapids office, and top area law enforcement 
officials described the efforts of the task force, and criminal links to 
the riots, at a Wednesday news conference.

While officials do not know if Carter played a direct role in the rioting 
of June 16-17, he and others provided drugs to people who were involved, 
said FBI Special Agent Al DiBrito.

Carter was arrested as the result of a task force investigation and was 
indicted by a federal grand jury for possessing crack cocaine in Benton 
Harbor on Sept. 10 with intent to distribute.

He pleaded guilty to the charge in April and was sentenced recently by U.S. 
District Court Judge Robert Holmes Bell to 27 years in prison.

Carter was a mid-to high-level supplier in the area, according to the FBI, 
and described himself as an enforcer for his network.

About 10 days after the rioting, Carter, one of many Benton Harbor 
residents interviewed by The Herald-Palladium about the causes, said strong 
parenting for young children is needed.

"I would like to see the children, our future, led by positive people," 
Carter said at the time. "My profit is to see our children lead the 
straight life and not be on the streets when they turn 17 as gangbangers."

DiBrito said the task force, made up of federal, state and local officers, 
is targeting career criminals. The goal, he said, is to put them in prison 
for as long as possible.

He estimated that about 100 people are responsible for the bulk of Benton 
Harbor's crime problems.

Area drug networks may have gang affiliations, officials said, but in 
Benton Harbor, they are less structured than big-city street gangs.

While the drug organizations had "some linkage" to the riots, they were not 
the cause, said Benton Harbor Police Chief Samuel Harris.

"The drug dealers did not get together and say, 'Let's have a riot,'" 
Harris said.

Rioting broke out in the neighborhood around Broadway and Pavone Street 
after the death of Terrance Shurn, who crashed his motorcycle into a house 
during a police chase.

Crowds of mostly young people threw rocks and bricks at police and 
emergency vehicles, and burned buildings. Twenty-one houses were destroyed, 
several others were damaged, and a number of people were injured.

Miraculously, nobody was killed.

Afterward, community leaders and citizens identified the city's poverty, 
high unemployment and other social ills as factors behind the intense 
violence. According to police, illegal drugs also fueled some of the 
rioters' rage.

Much has been done to improve the city's housing stock and provide jobs. A 
community policing program aims to improve the relationship between the 
public and officers.

Police agencies have better equipment and more training in handling riots, 
although the Benton Harbor Police Department remains undermanned.

Harris said the task force provides the manpower and expertise needed to 
help his department's young officers.

"It is our hope to eventually put ourselves out of business," he said of 
the task force. "I doubt it, but it is our hope."

State Police Lt. Willie Mays, commander of the Bridgman post, acknowledged 
there was a time when drug dealers felt save in Benton Harbor. The task 
force is working to change that.

"Our goal is to keep them running," Mays said.

Sheriff Paul Bailey said narcotics arrests, as measured by cases in Berrien 
County Drug Court, have tripled over the past three years.

"If you're going to sell drugs in Berrien County, you better be looking 
over your shoulder," he said.

Lamarco D. Hawkins, 24, of Benton Harbor, also indicted by a federal grand 
jury for possessing crack with intent to distribute Jan. 15, pleaded guilty 
and recently was sentenced to five years in prison followed by four years 
of supervised release.

Authorities described Hawkins as a street-level dealer. He was one of four 
people arrested Jan. 17 during a raid on a drug house on Waukonda Avenue.

The task force is a cooperative effort of the FBI, state police, Berrien 
County Sheriff's Department and police departments in Benton Harbor, Benton 
Township, St. Joseph and St. Joseph Township. The group also gets 
assistance from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of 
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
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