Queens Tribune
 
....July 31, 3:09 PM
 
Bust Deals Blow To Hollis Bloods

DA Richard Brown hopes the gangs in Queens were crippled by the recent bust.

By Michael Lanza

Queens law enforcement officials announced the results of a 10-month narcotics and firearm trafficking investigation on Tuesday, boasting 22 arrests and a crushing blow to the Hollis faction of the notorious Bloods street gang.

Prosecutors claimed that information from the investigation led to arrests in two homicides and a pattern robbery – including the arrest of alleged Hollis Bloods leader Benjamin “Dark” Dunn, 30, on charges related to the stabbing death of Persian Gulf veteran Henry G. Fraiser, 40, on May 10.

Dunn was also charged with second and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree criminal possession of marijuana, after police recovered more than two pounds of pot and two defaced guns from his bedroom drawer while executing a search warrant. Dunn’s wife, Darice Dunn, 28, was also arrested on charges related to the search.

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Pots and Pans,” netted a total of eight handguns, a shotgun, a kilo and a half of cocaine, 10-pounds of marijuana and approximately $15,000 in drug money, prosecutors said. Police estimated the street value of the drugs at more than $100,000.

“Operation Pots and Pans,” named after the group’s slang term for handguns, began in October 2007 as a joint venture between the New York City Police Department’s Queens Gang Squad and the Queens District Attorney’s Narcotics Investigations Bureau.

“This investigation is another example of police and prosecutors working together to reduce drug dealing and gang-based violence that too often plagues our neighborhoods. We are committed to continue to employ aggressive and innovative tactics to track down and prosecute drug dealers, weapons traffickers, violent gang members and other criminals who seek to terrorize our communities. It is imperative that we stop those who would flood our streets with drugs and gun violence and lure our children into lives of crime,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

The investigation, which also resulted in the arrest of four North Carolina residents, renewed concerns about the drug and gun trade along the Eastern seaboard. The illegal trafficking operations along I-95, “The Iron Pipeline,” have confounded authorities trying to stem the tide of illegal weapons hitting the City’s streets. In many cases, smugglers will exchange firearms obtained out of state for drugs to be sold in their home state.

A total of 5,913 illegal firearms were recovered in the City last year, according to a report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Only 420, about 7 percent, of those guns were traced to purchases in New York State. Eighty-seven percent of the guns recovered were traced out of state, the report said, with an overwhelming majority originating from Southern states, where lax gun laws make it easier to purchase weapons.

The four men arrested were allegedly driving from North Carolina to buy drugs, prosecutors said. Police allegedly recovered 1.3 ounces of cocaine and 6 pounds of marijuana from their vehicle. Weapon traces have yet to be completed and it is unknown whether any of the guns recovered are linked to the North Carolina residents.

City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D- St. Albans) commended the investigators yesterday and called for an end to blanket law enforcement bashing in Southeast Queens.

“Sometimes our criticism of law enforcement and our silence surrounding the senseless murder of young people in our community sends the signal to criminals that they can operate in our community without impunity,” Comrie said. “Clearly, we must change that perception. The proliferation of gangs, guns and drugs among our youth continues to thrive because our society has become somewhat immune to violence and death in certain communities.”

The Hollis gang members allegedly distributed narcotics to local dealers, prosecutors said, who then sold the narcotics. They allegedly grossed more than $5,000 per week in operations that also included supplying drugs to Bloods members in North Carolina.

Police believe that 19 of the 22 arrested were linked to the Hollis gang. The remaining three included alleged Crips member Jaivon Chisolm, 20, charged in the November shooting death of Mark Arrington, and retired New York City Corrections Officer Adolph Porter, 48, accused of storing drugs at his Jamaica home, where police allegedly recovered 20 bags of cocaine during a search on July 17.
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