2 Leaders of PCP Operation Convicted

Two ringleaders of a major drug operation that manufactured and sold the powerful hallucinogenic PCP were convicted Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles and face mandatory life sentences.

Howard Broomfield, 35, and Darnell Crookshank, 38, both of West Covina, were convicted of multiple counts of drug trafficking.

The convictions were the culmination of efforts by a joint task force of the Los Angeles Police Department and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The task force was formed in the early 1990s to investigate street gangs and the drug trade in the LAPD’s Newton Division. Investigators determined that a Crip gang faction was a major source of PCP in the area.

In 1993, the task force arrested several mid-level PCP dealers, all of them Crips. Three of them were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 22 to 45 years for various drug and firearms offenses.

Last year Broomfield and Crookshank, major suppliers to the Crips, were arrested while manufacturing 36 gallons of PCP in a Baldwin Hills oil field. Based on leads gathered during the arrest, authorities were able to seize PCP valued at $30 million, investigators said.

The arrests led to the shutdown of the entire operation, an ATF spokesman said.