Harlem Drug Gang Bust

15 members and associates of a Harlem drug gang and two other dealers were arrested and indicted on multiple charges.
Harlem Drug Gang Bust
1/29/2009
Updated:
1/29/2009
NEW YORK—15 members and associates of a Harlem drug gang active in the Hamilton Heights area known as the “Stack Money Family” or “$MF,” and two additional drug dealers from the same area, were arrested and indicted on Wednesday on charges including conspiracy and the possession and sale of narcotics.

The charges stem from sales of crack cocaine by gang members in and around residential apartment buildings in the vicinity of 143rd Street and Hamilton Place, particularly out of a residential building located at 135 Hamilton Place, a seven-story, 44-unit apartment building.

As a result of police efforts starting early Wednesday morning, all but two of the defendants are in custody. Nine search warrants were executed earlier Wednesday in apartments maintained by gang members, as well as in the jail cell of the gang’s leader, Boschi Pope, also known as “Bloodie.”

As a result of the search warrants, police recovered two loaded revolvers from the residence of Tiffany Dubois, a.k.a “Tiff,” the wife of gang leader Boschi Pope, and a large amount of gang paraphernalia, including a codebook of gang-related terms and phrases.

The indictment includes charges that Pope, who has been incarcerated since May of 2008 for a parole violation, has continued to direct the organization’s activities from his jail cell at Riker’s Island through inmate calls to his wife, Dubois, and other gang members. The defendants appeared before the New York State Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon.

The investigation originated in November of 2007 to address complaints that area residents were being terrorized by ongoing drug dealing and related violence involving members and associates of a Bloods gang set operating around 143rd Street and Hamilton Place. While the Stack Money Family is not a Blood “set” per se, most of the organization are members of or affiliated with various sets of the Bloods gang, primarily the ”Mack Baller Brims” or “Mayback Baller Brims.” Many of the organization’s members have “Stack Money Family,” “SMF,” or “Mack Baller” tattoos, and some are depicted in gang-related postings on the Internet.

While The Bloods street gang originated in Los Angeles, California, the New York-based Bloods membership originated in prisons and jails such as Rikers Island in the 1990s.

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Smokestack,” revealed that, in conjunction with using various interior apartments as stash locations, gang members and associated dealers also took over the main public spaces in and around these residential buildings. They conducted their drug dealing itself in lobbies, stairwells, doorways and hallways, as well as on the street.

The investigation utilized undercover detectives and surveillance techniques to infiltrate retail drug selling by this organization. In all, undercover detectives made twenty-four purchases of cocaine from seventeen Bloods members and associates.

All of the defendants are charged with Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree In or Near School Grounds (Our Lady of Lourdes, Public School 153, and Public School 194), Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, each a felony charge which carries up to nine years in prison. All defendants are also charged with Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a felony which is punishable by up to four years in prison. In addition, eleven of the defendants are charged with Conspiracy in the Third Degree as a result of the organization’s use of minors in their illegal drug activities, a felony which carries up to seven years in prison.