. Gang probe took time
FLINT
THE
FLINT
JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Wednesday,
December 19, 2007
By
Kim Crawford
kcrawford@flintjournal.com
• 810.766.6242
Neighborhood watch
groups applauded the news. A local criminal defense lawyer said it
was going to be a merry Christmas in terms of legal work. And some hailed
it as the biggest news about a Flint-area gang since the state and
federal charges brought down the Insane Spanish Cobras in the 1990s.
But the warrants
issued Friday and over the weekend charging 35 people alleged to be
part of the Pierson Hood gang with crimes from dog-fighting to
drug-dealing to murder didn't come as a bolt from the blue.
Some indications
that authorities were investigating the organization emerged in early
March in U.S. District Court in Flint after three men - two
subsequently charged with murder and cocaine distribution, and one
with cocaine dealing - were indicted by a federal grand jury in Bay
City early this year.
The three,
indicted on federal cocaine conspiracy charges in February, were
Samuel L. Wood, Garner H. Wood and Montae D. Leeper, all of Flint. They
were among nine persons indicted in that conspiracy and taken into
custody by authorities, with Garner Wood also charged with two counts
of being a felon in possession of firearms - an AK-47 assault rifle
and a .45-caliber pistol.
At a bond hearing
for Samuel Wood on March 1 in Flint,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Jones said the suspect could be heard on
a wiretapped phone conversation, talking about killing others.
The indictment
that named the two Woods and Leeper - who has since been identified
in new state charges as Monta D. Leeper-McNeil - also alleged that
members of their conspiracy killed and threatened others.
"In order to
further the goals of the cocaine conspiracy, threats of violence,
actual violence and murders were committed to intimidate competitors
to the conspiracy," the indictment stated.
The three have not
gone to trial in federal court.
But when Flint law
enforcement officials revealed the state charges Monday against
alleged members of the Pierson Hood gang, Samuel Wood, 26, known by
the street name "Six," was charged in two double slayings -
the 2005 shootings at Club Xclusive of Curtis Wade Jr. and Gregory
Baines of Flint, and the 2004 killings of Kenneth M. Edwards, 19, of
Clio and Marcus L. Ballard, 25, of Flint at the Super 8 West motel in
Mt. Morris Township.
Wood also was
charged with terrorism causing death and assault with intent to
murder in the shootings of two other men at a Flint Burger King
restaurant, three counts of conspiracy to murder, being part of a
continuing criminal enterprise and other charges.
A man described as
Wood's relative, Garner H. "Buddy" Wood, 29, of Flint, was also
charged in the Club Xclusive slayings with conspiracy to commit
murder, continuing criminal enterprise and other charges.
Leeper-McNeil, 24,
was charged with delivery of cocaine and continuing criminal
enterprise.
Those men, in
federal custody, are expected to be arraigned Friday in Flint
District Court.
While declining to
give specifics about what evidence federal and local law enforcement
used to charge them and 32 others named in the Pierson Hood
investigation - evidence that may have come from secret federal grand
jury testimony or government wiretaps - officials said they used
every tool available.
Genesee County
Sheriff Robert J. Pickell confirmed the connections between major
drug figures and the Pierson Hood organization that allegedly
included the Woods and Leeper-McNeil.
Those connections
were convicted cocaine distributor Gregory Holder, 29, of Swartz
Creek and accused cocaine distributor Deshawn Howard, Pickell said.
Howard of Flint
Township was arrested in February by Flint police after the Genesee
County Sheriff's Department drug unit known as the Posse observed him
place what they allege was 10 kilograms of cocaine into his car. He
was indicted shortly thereafter by a federal grand jury and still
faces trial.
Holder, arrested
in 2006, was sentenced this year to up to 39 years in state prison
after he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver more
than 1,000 grams of cocaine.
Those men admitted
to or are accused of moving thousands of pounds of drugs into the Flint area,
Pickell said.
He and other law
enforcement officials who announced the investigation into the
Pierson Hood organization hailed the arrests as the result of
cooperation among federal agents and state and local police.
Police said there
are other gangs in the Flint
area - the Merrill Hood, Selby Hood and Dewey Hood organizations are
three mentioned in news reports about drug-related shootings - and
officers say other gangs are the Goon Squad and Block Boys.
But when the
charges against the Pierson Hood members were revealed this week,
Flint police Chief Gary Hagler said they are "not the end, but
the beginning" of a joint state, federal and local law
enforcement action against gang violence and drug dealing.
In addition to the
two Wood family members, 10 other suspects have been named in the
murder cases at Club Xclusive and Super 8, as well as the November
2005 slayings in Flint of Larry Pass and Erwin Blue and the December
2006 slaying of Alvin Rauls, 27.
On Friday, federal
agents and postal inspectors, investigators assigned to the Safe
Street Task Force, state police and officers from Burton, Mt. Morris
Township and Davison-area police departments served 15 search
warrants and 21 arrest warrants at locations around Flint and Mt.
Morris Township. More warrants have since been issued.
About 20 people
named in the warrants were arraigned Monday, while a dozen, including
some charged in slayings, remain at large.
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