Alleged Drug Ring Cracked in FBI Raid : Crime: Agents arrest six leaders of a suspected narcotics organization and seize homes and cars. Investigators say dealers infiltrated airline to supply gang members nationwide.

In dawn raids across the Southland on Thursday, teams of FBI agents and local police simultaneously arrested six leaders of an organization they say is a major supplier of drugs to street gangs.

According to investigators, the organization infiltrated a major airline to ship narcotics and enlisted gang members to sell them across the country.

Agents also moved to seize seven homes, a self-service laundry, $13,000 in cash, about five gallons of PCP and five vehicles--including a Mercedes-Benz, a Porsche and a 30-foot motor home. More than 100 adult marijuana plants were discovered at an eighth home, and the FBI initiated procedures to seize that property as well.

In addition to the six men arrested Thursday, two more are in prison. A ninth suspect, Arnold Karl Martin of Gardena, remains at large.

Derrick Bines, 31, the reputed leader of the organization, was arrested at his Corona home and was charged with drug trafficking and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a life term.

“This guy is a major bad player,” said FBI Special Agent Robert Jones, supervisor of the FBI unit that conducted “West Coast Posse,” the two-year investigation of Bines and his alleged associates. “We have been after him for years.”

Investigators said Bines and his organization have been in business for more than a decade, and have acted as the cocaine intermediary between Mexican drug barons and Compton street gangs. They cited Bines’ arrest as strong evidence of the connection between gangs and large-scale narcotics trafficking.

In interviews and in a criminal complaint filed Thursday in federal court, investigators alleged that Bines and his associates bought cocaine from Mexican dealers and shipped it to more than a dozen cities across the country.

The shipments to other American cities were made through the mail, as well as in cars, trucks and, in at least a few cases, through a Delta Air Lines baggage handler who used his position to circumvent airport security, agents said. According to the FBI’s 73-page affidavit, Rudolph Leroy Mossette, 24, one of the suspects arrested Thursday morning, worked for Delta and delivered crack cocaine purchased from Bines to an undercover FBI agent in Portland, Ore.

Delta officials cooperated in the probe, agents said.

Estimates of the drug organization’s scope varied widely, with one informant suggesting to agents that Bines’ group was shipping from 15 kilograms to 2,000 kilograms, or at least 33 pounds, a week. Agents said the total is difficult to determine, but they believe that Bines and his associates sold an average of about 200 to 400 pounds a month, most of it in the Los Angeles area.

Bines is closely associated with street gangs in Compton, officials said, and they believe that gang members helped convert the cocaine into crack and distribute it nationwide. Bines was described as an “O.G.,” or “original gangster,” affiliated with the Campanela Park Pirus, a faction of the Bloods.

Among the other suspects arrested Thursday are alleged members of gangs such as the Nutty Block Crips and the Fruit Town Pirus. The gangs are rivals, authorities said, but they cooperate on drug trafficking because it is so profitable.

Special Agent in Charge Charlie J. Parsons, who heads the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said Bines’ arrest will put a dent in the Compton and South Los Angeles drug trade, an opinion echoed by Compton Police Chief Hourie Taylor. Compton officers participated in the investigation and in the arrests Thursday, as did Internal Revenue Service agents, representatives of the U.S. attorney’s office and officers from the Corona and Los Angeles police departments.

“This is the biggest supplier in Compton to gangs,” Parsons said at a news conference. “This is going to have an impact.”

Agents used deafeningly loud explosive devices known as “flash-bangs” during the arrests of Bines and two suspects in Compton. About the same time that Bines was being taken into custody in Corona, about 75 FBI agents smashed the front windows of the Compton home that allegedly was the organization’s headquarters.

A house next door was entered without using the devices, but a few minutes later, agents blasted their way into a third home a few blocks away.

The explosions rocked the neighborhood on Central Avenue near 150th Street, and agents poured inside the homes.

No shots were fired and no injuries were reported during any of the arrests.

“Look at all this,” Abraham Bernard Gutierrez, 18, said as he was escorted through the cordon of FBI agents outside his home at 1213 E. 150th St. “Damn.”

Agents and police also arrested a suspect in Diamond Bar, raided three more houses in Los Angeles, and made arrests in Carson and Long Beach. While searching the Diamond Bar house, agents discovered about 100 adult marijuana plants growing in what they described as a sophisticated greenhouse. The plants were displayed at the news conference.

The source of the cocaine allegedly distributed by the Bines organization has not been confirmed, officials said. Investigators believe that Bines was tied to cocaine barons in Mexico, but the affidavit filed in federal court quotes one suspect as telling agents that “Bines received his cocaine exclusively from Cubans.”

Agent Jones said the Cuban connection could not be confirmed, and agents still believe that Bines had ties to Mexican organizations.

In addition to Bines, Gutierrez and Mossette, agents arrested Juan Rod Lovett, 29; Stephen Anthony Ruiz, 37, and Terry Larue Pinkney, 31. The two suspected members of the ring who are in jail are Victor Art Grandy, 35, and Kenneth Ray Johnson, 29.

The six suspects were arraigned in federal court late Thursday. Bines, Gutierrez and Pinkney were denied bail, while Mossette, Lovett and Ruiz were granted bail ranging from $125,000 to $150,000.

The Key Players In sweeps across Southern California early Thursday, FBI agents and local police arrested six men charged with being part of a drug-trafficking ring that brought cocaine from Mexico and worked with Los Angeles street gangs to convert it into crack and distribute it nationwide. Two more suspects already were in custody and one is at large. Derrick Bines, 31

Arrested at his Corona home, Bines allegedly heads the organization. FBI officials describe him as a ruthless but methodical leader who has spent almost half his life in the drug trade.

Abraham Bernard Gutierrez, 18

Agents stormed Gutierrez’s Compton house at dawn, contending that it was the headquarters for Bines’ drug ring. A federal affidavit cites several occasions in which Gutierrez allegedly collected money and distributed drugs for Bines.

Juan Rod Lovett, 29

Allegedly a member of the Nutty Block Crips, a Compton-based street gang. Lovett, who investigators say distributed cocaine for Bines in Denver, was shot in a Denver bar in 1991. He blamed Bines, saying he had “referred to paying hit men with cocaine to have someone killed,” according to the affidavit.

Stephen Anthony Ruiz, 37

Ruiz, working under the direction of one of Bines’ associates, allegedly sold an undercover FBI agent 16 ounces of rock cocaine on Dec. 27, 1990.

Terry Larue Pinkney, 31

Allegedly a member of the Fruit Town Pirus, a Compton-based sect of the Bloods street gang. A federal affidavit accuses Pinkney of distributing PCP with Bines. A search of his home turned up a 9-millimeter pistol, two marijuana plants and PCP.

Rudolph Leroy Mossette, 24

Agents say Mossette worked as a Delta Airlines baggage handler and used his connections with the airline to circumvent airport security measures.

The Network Federal investigators say that Derrick Bines led a Compton-based drug ring that became a major supplier of drugs to street gangs. They allege that members of the Bloods and Crips worked with Bines, helping to convert the cocaine into crack and distributing it across the country. The following look at the organization is taken from accounts supplied by federal agents who spent more than two years investigating the drug ring. This account is unproved but was spelled out in interviews as well as in a criminal complaint and a sworn FBI affidavit. According to the FBI: The Compton ring bought its cocaine directly from suppliers in Mexico. The shipments--of an estimated 200 to 400 pounds a month--would arrive by private planes in the California desert.

The drugs were stored in the desert at undisclosed locations and brought into Compton a few pounds at a time.

Once there, the cocaine was converted into crack and packaged for shipment. Packages of crack cocaine were often sold by the kilogram, or sometimes in larger quantities. Gang members helped distribute the drugs. Alleged members of the Nutty Block Crips and Fruit Town Pirus were among the suspects arrested Thursday.

Large quantities of the cocaine also were shipped to cities across the United States. To do that, the organization sent packages through the mail or by express services and also used baggage handlers with at least one major airline. Delta baggage handlers arranged shipments to Portland, Ore., in 1991 and 1992, the affidavit states.

Gang members and others received the shipments and distributed them to customers in Kansas City; Portland, Ore.; Denver; New Orleans; Atlanta; Memphis; Minneapolis; St. Louis; Little Rock, Ark., and Las Vegas, among other places.

Some shipments were very valuable. At one point, payments from Kansas City alone grossed more than $150,000 per month for the Compton organization.

Leaders of the ring amassed immense wealth. Bines owned several homes, a fleet of vehicles and at least one business.