updated story
39 arrests: Conspiracy on Staten Island dealt in drugs, guns and attempted murder, D.A. says
The guns came from Georgia, Donovan said, while the drugs came from Mexico, Canada, Texas and Pennsylvania, District Attorney Donovan said. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)
Print By John M. Annese/Staten Island Advance
Follow on Twitter
on August 13, 2013 at 12:10 PM, updated August 13, 2013 at 12:57 PM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Prosecutors on Staten Island say they've busted up a 39-person gun- and drug-dealing ring involved in trafficking cocaine from Mexico to Staten Island, and in three separate attempts to kill the same man on Staten Island.
Investigators dubbed he 16-month investigation "Operation Mayberry," since one of the top suspects, Christopher Dowd, went by the nickname "Opie," said District Attorney Daniel Donovan.
"But he and the other defendants are nothing like the lovable characters portrayed in the 1960s TV show, the Andy Griffith Show," Donovan said. "These 39 individuals are accused of committing crimes, conspiring to commit crimes that would shock and appall Sheriff Taylor. This isn't a fictional TV show. This is real life."
Those crimes included three separate attempts to kill Lawrence Browning, who escaped one of the attempts on his life by running his car into one of his assailants, according to law enforcement sources.
The guns came from Georgia, Donovan said, while the drugs came from Mexico, Canada, Texas and Pennsylvania, Donovan said.
The suspects largely hail from Port Richmond, West Brighton, New Brighton and Mariners Harbor, and distributed drugs to West Brighton, New Sprinville and Great Kills, he said.
And many of the defendants -- 25 in total -- were members of the Bloods street gang, Donovan said. Thirty-three of those arrested have been indicted by a grand jury, he said.
One of the suspects, a career criminal named Clinton James, was shot and wounded by police in March after, authorities said, he pinned a detective with his car during a gun bust.
Donovan displayed a half dozen seized guns and several boxes of ammunition during a press conference Tuesday.
"Some of these guns were about to be used to shoot other individuals. Three of these guns were recovered during a car chase in Newark, N.J. One was recovered from the front of Shatiek Daniels' home," he said. "Two were recovered from a woman who was selling weapons for Shatiek Daniels," he said.
Advance records show that Daniels was James' accomplice in a 2003 robbery at the Howard Avenue mansion of rap mogul Samuel (Tone) Barnes that netted more than $100,000 in jewelry, watches, sports memorabilia and other valuable.
Investigators seized 22 kilograms of cocaine as well -- one on Staten Island, another 21 in Loredo, Texas, he said.
Several of the suspects are also accused of stealing and reselling motorcycle and motorcycle parts, Donovan said, and two are accused in burglaries aimed at stealing jewelry, guns, electronics and drugs.
"These defendant wrecked havoc on Staten Island, " Donovan said.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/08/da_conspiracy_on_staten_island.html
