Reported by: Jeff Hager
Reported by: Delia Goncalves
Last Update: 4/16 10:52 pm
Manager of troubled nightclub involved in gang arrests.
Police said it was a string of violent crime that led them to crack down on Club 410. They successfully padlocked the trouble spot last week, when manager Tomeka Harris vowed to fight the closure. She told us, “There is no drug activity going on here it's all rumors it's all lies."
Come to find out Harris, who so openly defended the club, was under investigation herself. “I'm a law abiding citizen I do what I'm supposed to do so I don't commit crime," she said on April 8th. Now investigators say Harris was a member of the Black Guerrilla Family. They arrested her - and 23 others - on drug, extortion and conspiracy charges. The indictment even alleges members coordinated hits from their jail cell - where the gang, which dates back to the 1960’s, originated. “Gang members of BGF when they're incarcerated continue to involved in gang activities using contraband cell phones in our prisons to call out to fellow members outside the prison," explained U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.
A major crack in the case, came just a few days ago when police spotted nearly 200 gang members at Druid Hill Park. Two were arrested. Baltimore Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld said, “It's a great opportunity for us not to wait for fire. Someone smelled smoke and we went and were able to get some bad guys off the streets."
Police won't comment on the link between Tomeka Harris' gang arrest and their efforts to shut down Club 410 but neighbors are relieved it looks like the club is gone - for good.
It’s a prison gang that dates back to the sixties, but the federal indictments suggest the Black Guerilla Family, or BMF, used modern-day, state-of-the-art technology to continue operating its drug trade and to order hits from behind bars.
"Using contraband cell phones in our prisons to call out to fellow members outside the prison... even to call other members that are located in other prisons," said U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.
Among the two dozen gang members or associates arrested in prisons across the state, the feds busted four current or former corrections employees.
"These are bad examples of the profession and they need to be weeded out... rooted out for everybody's safety," said Maryland Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Gary D. Maynard.
In addition to contraband cell phones, here at the Metropolitan Transition Center in Baltimore, we're told gang leaders would courier in fancy food and liquor including champagne, vodka and seafood.
As the investigation inside the prisons came to a head, it left gang members on the outside in chaos.
City police, acting upon information provided by state and federal agents, broke up a Black Guerilla Family gang meeting in Druid Hill Park on Monday.
"We got great intelligence,” said Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld, “We responded in a good comprehensive way and we were able to capture some of the guys with guns."
In an effort to further crack down on active gang operations behind bars, prison officials are using phone-sniffing dogs to locate contraband cell phones, and in a few months, proposed federal legislation may lead to signal-blocking devices for those, which remain in the inmates’ hands.
Copyright 2009 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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