By Carolyn Thompson, The Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A marijuana ring passed out business cards and fliers at schools and painted its distribution houses bright blue to signal customers, according to authorities who spent Thursday rounding up suspected members, including the alleged ringleader and a city police detective.
More than 300 local and federal officers, including five SWAT teams, arrested roughly two dozen suspects and searched a dozen houses, confiscating six handguns and an undetermined amount of cash and drugs, said Peter Ahearn, special agent in charge of Buffalo’s FBI office.
Among those arrested were alleged ringleader Frankie Johnson, 46, who police said had been in the drug business 25 years despite several arrests, and Det. Andres Ortiz, a veteran police officer assigned to the department’s Major Crimes unit.
Ortiz, charged with using a telephone in a drug crime, “was specifically working for Johnson’s criminal enterprise,” Ahearn said.
Fliers and business cards handed out at suburban high schools would not overtly advertise drugs, instead listing an address and phone number, along with a vague business name, such as “Rod & Frankie’s.” Customers were directed to one of six “weed houses,” investigators said.
“Each one of these house was painted bright blue to be identified as the house. It was a very sophisticated and controlled operation,” Ahearn said.
The operation, which police said sold an estimated $120,000 worth of marijuana a week, came under scrutiny a year ago and has been at the center of several shootings and threats of violence, authorities said. At least six shootings were thwarted after investigators intercepted information while monitoring the operation, authorities said.
Police Commissioner Rocco Diina said most of the city’s violence has its roots in drugs. The city has seen 42 homicides so far this year, on par with last year’s rate. More than half of the cases are unsolved.
“Most of the crime is related to drugs one way or another,” said Diina, “whether it’s someone stealing to support their habit or someone making a living selling...Drugs affect everything.”
The ring was largely supplied by George Pownall, a Jamaican from Miami, who was being sought Thursday, authorities said.
Johnson faces seven charges, including operating a continuing criminal enterprise, distribution near a protected zone, use of a minor in drug operations and bank fraud.
It was the second major drug crackdown in the city in the last two months and the second to allegedly involve a city police officer. In August, an officer was among 42 people netted in raids on a cocaine distribution operation.