News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2003

Operation Archangel Results in the Indictment of 36 Individuals

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the New England Field Division, addresses the media after the culmination of Operation Archangel which resulted in the indictments of 36 individuals.

Boston, Ma…In a joint federal and state investigation, arrests were sought today of ten Boston men charged in federal indictments with distributing crack cocaine within 1000 feet of three Roxbury schools; Mason Elementary, Emerson Elementary, and Community Academy. One of the defendants is also charged with employing a minor to distribute crack cocaine for him within 1000 feet of the same three schools. Additionally, as a result of the DEA Task Force collaborative investigative efforts, twenty-six individuals have been charged with state drug crimes.

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Divison; J. Dewey Webb, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in New England; William Chase, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; Paul Evans, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department; Michael Sullivan, United States Attorney, and Daniel Conley, Suffolk County District Attorney announced today the indictments of 36 defendants.

"Individuals who traffic crack cocaine and other drugs in our communities and who put our school children at risk will be investigated, arrested and prosecuted. A community should not be held hostage by these traffickers," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Trouville. "The arrests today demonstrate the success of federal, state and local law enforcement cooperation. We will continue to work with our partners in removing these individuals from these communities."

Archangel began on July 27 2000, and is one in a continuing series of Neighborhood Impact projects conducted by the Boston Police Department, DEA and other law enforcement agencies which target those neighborhoods plagued by gang related violence and crime. These operations attempt to disrupt the organizational structure and criminal activity of those gangs in an effort to reduce fear and improve the quality of life for the residents of the City of Boston. Over the next 32 months controlled purchases and recoveries of both drugs and firearms were conducted. Investigators seized or recovered approximately 20 firearms from members of these groups.

Operation Archangel was developed to address the criminal enterprises of four violent Boston street gangs, two gangs aligned and operating in and around the area of Bowdoin Street in the Dorchester section and their rivals, two gangs operating between Woodward Avenue and Wendover Street in the Uphams Corner/Roxbury area.

Based on information formulated during this operation it has been determined that the feuding began after a 1995 homicide in the Upham Corner section of Boston. Over the next several years, firearm violence in these areas escalated not only in our neighborhoods but these individuals brought this aggression to the streets of Brockton, Randolph, Quincy as far south as Providence, conducting criminal activity as far north as Manchester, New Hampshire. Their illegal activities, drug distribution, firearm assaults and homicides, are the focus of ongoing investigations in multiple jurisdictions.

The cases were investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The federal cases are being prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office and the state cases will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys from Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley's Office.

Contact: Anthony J. Pettigrew 617-557-2138