Ten reputed members of a violent Camden street gang
Ten reputed members of a violent Camden street gang have been arrested on drug dealing and racketeering charges stemming from a six-month investigation by a joint state and federal violent-crime drug task force.
Three of the reputed gang members were already facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office announced the arrests yesterday in a case that targeted the Nine Trey Headbustas, a faction or "set" of what authorities called a local branch of the Bloods street gang.
The gang allegedly dealt large quantities of crack cocaine and heroin along Broadway in Camden's business district and in the neighborhood around Stevens and Benson Streets, according to a statement released by Attorney General Anne Milgram, who said the group "utilized violence and intimidation to protect its turf."
Federal, state and county law enforcement agencies executed a series of arrests on Friday to wrap up the investigation.
One of those arrested last week was free on bail following his arrest Nov. 29 on charges he conspired to commit murder. At that time, authorities armed with search warrants seized two handguns, $10,000 in cash, three pounds of marijuana, 2.5 ounces of crack cocaine and 500 bagged individual doses of heroin ready for street sale.
The crackdown is the latest in a series of law enforcement actions that have targeted the Bloods, considered one of the largest street gangs in the country.
On Thursday, the FBI announced the arrests of 10 members of the Seven-Nine-Trey Bloods, a Newark, N.J., street gang heavily involved in crack and heroin distribution in that city's south side.
A day later, a federal judge sentenced a leader of Trenton's Sex Money Murder Bloods set to 17 years in prison after he was convicted of conspiring to distribute more than $1 million worth of cocaine.
Fifteen other reputed members of that organization were charged in September with drug dealing as part of a sweeping investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General's Division of Criminal Justice.
Both the division and the federally funded High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Joint Camden Task Force took part in the investigation that led to the arrests announced yesterday.
"We're seeing an increase in gang activity associated with the drug trade," said Jeremiah A. Daley, executive director of HIDTA.
Daley said it was impossible to determine if every group that claimed to be affiliated with the Bloods was part of the national organization. But he cautioned that the gang was prolific, has spread into both cities and suburbs and used violence to expand and protect its drug operations.
While Philadelphia still has many independent operatives in the drug underworld, Daley said, "Camden seems to be morphing over into affiliated groups [such as] the Bloods, the Crips, the Latin Kings."
All those charged in the latest investigation are Camden residents. Two of the 10 were juveniles.
Those previously arrested for conspiracy to commit murder are Juan Vargas, 24; Nathaniel Clay, 30, and Dionoco Adams, 26. Authorities have declined to provide details of their alleged murder plot.
Vargas, who was out on bail, was shot and wounded on Thursday night, authorities said.
In addition to the conspiracy charge, Vargas is now charged with being the leader of a narcotics trafficking network, racketeering and conspiring to manufacture and distribute heroin.
Other reputed gang members charged in the case are Kenneth Hands, 30; Hector Archeval, 20; Keith Jones, 40; Jose Vargas, 22; Javiel Ford, 20; and two juveniles, aged 17 and 16, whose names were not released.
