Murders Down in Area of ‘Rock’ Dealer Raids : Detectives Credit South L.A. Task Force Effot With Big Decline in Cocaine-Related Slayings

South Los Angeles homicide detectives say they are noting major decreases in drug-related murders since a police task force started cracking down on “rock” cocaine dealers last October.

The Police Department’s South Bureau Narcotics Task Force has arrested 1,020 suspected drug dealers and taken 72 guns off the street in the four months since it went into action, and police homicide detectives in the area said they began seeing the effect of the crackdown almost immediately.

“The murders that were associated directly with the ‘rock houses’ (fortified residences where cocaine in rock-like form is sold) and street dealers are down a lot,” said Detective Paul Mize, homicide coordinator for the Police Department’s 77th Street Division.

“It seemed for a while there last year that everything we touched was involving narcotics, either dealers or users,” Mize added. “Now, it seems like all of a sudden it came to an end.”

‘Significant Percentage’

Mize said his detectives have handled only three drug-related murders since Dec. 1. He said dope homicides--almost all of which centered around the increased popularity of cocaine rocks in South Los Angeles--accounted for a “significant” percentage of the division’s 112 murders for all of last year, but he declined to give a specific figure.

Elsewhere in the city’s south side, the Southwest Division had only three drug-related murders since Dec. 1, compared to about 50 in 1984, according to homicide coordinator Detective Art Hotchkiss.

In the nearby Newton Division, homicide coordinator Detective J. D. Furr said his investigators have handled two drug-related murders since Dec. 1 compared to 11 in the previous four-month period.

The detectives credited the narcotics task force for the drop in narcotics-related homicides.

“The task force has been out there putting the pressure on them, and that’s really been good for us,” Mize said. “You put that much patrol activity down there and it has a noticeable effect.”

Keeping Pressure On

Added Hotchkiss: “I’m sure they (the task force officers) have had something to do with it.”

Newton Division is actually in the department’s Central Bureau, but the arrests by the South Bureau task force “most probably have helped,” Furr said. “It’s taking down a lot of dope dealers and keeping the pressure on them.”

In addition, the Central Bureau’s narcotics field enforcement section has focused much of its activity on cocaine dealers in Newton, “and if it’s impacting their homicide rate, that’s super,” said the unit’s commanding officer, Lt. Bill Costleigh.

Only in Southeast Division, where Lt. William Pruitt said there have been four apparently narcotics-related slayings this year and six since Dec. 1, have the figures remained similar to last year’s.

“Others are still going to occur until you get a real good handle on the problem,” Pruitt said, adding that there “really is no explanation” why his division has not had a decrease in drug-related murders.

Wide Popularity

Dope murders exploded across Los Angeles’ black community last year, when rock cocaine gained widespread popularity in the area.

Police sources attributed as many as 65 murders last year to wars among competing factions fighting for control of the lucrative cocaine market, in which young street gang members are known to earn thousands of dollars a week.

Other such homicides involved robberies of drug dealers and retaliation murders from dope rip-offs. Among them, four relatives of former football star Kermit Alexander were also slain when two street gang members allegedly entered the wrong house in a retaliation attack.

Lt. Paul Jefferson said the South Bureau Narcotics Task Force, which he heads, was established on Oct. 18, “when the problem was so out of hand” and community residents stepped up their complaints about open, widespread narcotics trafficking in their neighborhoods.

“We’re still getting a lot of pressure from the community--and a lot of tips and a lot of clues,” Jefferson said. “They’re calling in the locations of where the dealers are, and we’re responding to those tips.”

Street Dealers

Most of the 1,020 arrests have involved suspected street dealers, but “we’ve also been taking bodies out of rock houses,” Jefferson said. He declined to reveal how many police officers--both uniformed and undercover--make up the task force.

“There is still a lot of activity going on,” the lieutenant said. “We feel that we’ve put a dent into it, but there’s still a lot more to do. They’re moving their operations around, but they’re not as blatant as they were. That in itself is a major accomplishment.”

On Friday one of the Southside’s most active drug-dealing hot spots, 98th Street between Avalon Boulevard and Main Street, seemed much quieter than it had during several visits made by a reporter last fall.

At mid-day, no more than half a dozen dealers were on the street, even though it was the 15th of the month, when the welfare checks go out in the mail. Police and dealers say this is the busiest time of the month for drug purchases.

Last October, dozens of 98th Street dealers could be seen on “check day,” competing for the drug consumer’s dollar.

“They’re not here no more,” said Gary Harrison, 21, a 98th Street resident. “I guess they faded out, or went to jail. There used to be ‘accidents’ (murders) and robberies and all that kind of stuff.

‘No More Dope’

“There used to be 30 to 50 people there. People who don’t even live here would be down there. And the ones who live here would fight with them for making our neighborhood bad. But there ain’t no more dope going through here,” Harrison said.

Despite the apparent success of the task force, street sources said they know of dozens of rock houses still operating smoothly, and law enforcement sources say the prospect of making large sums of money still lures hundreds of youthful gang members into the cocaine business.

Earlier this month, the Police Department unveiled a new motorized battering ram designed to break down the walls of suspected rock houses. It has been used twice--once in Pacoima and once in South-Central Los Angeles.

“They (the task force officers) have made a lot of arrests and put a lot of people into jail, but young people are still eager to make money and they will gravitate toward whatever they can do to get it,” said Lt. Sam Dacus, head of the Police Department’s anti-gang detail in South Los Angeles. “We are still seeing an increase in narcotics involvement by the gang members.”