Cash Seizure Shows Scope of Drug Deals, Gates Says

Compared to recent drug seizures, some of which have measured in tons of drugs and dozens of arrests, it was small potatoes--only 3 1/2 pounds of cocaine, 6 1/2 gallons of liquid PCP and five people in custody.

But the investigation, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said Tuesday, proved significant. Along with those drugs and a handful of guns, narcotics officers seized $102,025--more cash than the LAPD has ever taken at one time from street gang members suspected of dealing drugs.

“This is the kind of money that has been financing (these) miserable little rotten hoodlums,” Gates said at a press conference.

Gates’ condemnation was comparable to other strong words he offered last week, when the chief announced that his officers would begin attacking the drug-gang connection with a fervor. Toward that end, Gates named one of his four deputy chiefs, Glenn A. Levant, to coordinate the effort as “anti-drug, anti-gang czar.”

While the investigation Gates described Tuesday started before Levant’s appointment, the chief said the case nonetheless illustrates “what gangs in this city can expect from now on.”

Here is how the investigation developed, according to Gates:

Relying on tips and surveillance activities, anti-gang detectives determined several weeks ago that a house in the 13600 block of Kornblum Avenue in Hawthorne was being used for drug dealing. Its occupants were believed to be members of a South-Central Los Angeles street gang.

Starts With Arrest

On Monday, detectives arrested one of those street gang members, Tony Wallace, 24, who allegedly had one pound of cocaine in his possession. Based on that arrest and other evidence, detectives raided the Kornblum Avenue location hours later. There they arrested a second alleged gang member, Lee Clark, 22, while recovering 2 1/2 pounds of cocaine and the PCP, commonly known as Angel Dust.

The search on Kornblum Avenue led to a second house in the 1400 block of East 3rd Street in Long Beach, where the cash was discovered along with three hand guns. Three other alleged gang members, identified as Derick Leichman, 22, Jesse Harrod, 24, and Deanna Curtis, 22, were arrested at that location.

A third house, in the 11900 block of South Ainsworth Street in South Los Angeles, also was searched. No arrests were made, but a fully-loaded Uzi submachine gun was seized.