New York Daily News
By BARBARA ROSS
Daily News Staff Writer
Thanks to Stacy for sending this to us.
Cops Bust Up Gang Tied to Killer Heroin.
A lower East Side gang accused of selling the heroin that killed a member of the Smashing Pumpkins band has been broken up with the arrest of 37 people, officials said yesterday.
Investigators said the suspects were among 42 members of the Dead Man Walking gang who were indicted on charges of conspiracy, murder, witness intimidation and felony drug sales.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and Police Commissioner Howard Safir said it was one of the biggest gangs in the city, grossing more than $25 million a year since 1992.
They said the gang sold heroin under the names Tombstone, Rockefeller, Dead Man Walking and Redrum. Keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin died of an overdose of Redrum at the Regency Hotel in July 1996, officials said.
Walter Arsenault, head of Morgenthau's homicide investigations unit, said the probe started about a year ago, triggered in part by Melvoin's death and the gang's flashy displays of violence — which resulted in two murders.
He said one of the gang's leaders, John Luciano, called himself "John Gotti" and "thought of himself as a Teflon Don" because he allegedly wiggled out of criminal charges by using violence.
Luciano, 25, is accused with Eric Sander, Dahoud Smith and Jerome Ruffin of killing Shawn Hayes in April 1995 for selling marijuana in their area.
Investigators also said Luciano was seen nodding over the body of Malik Harrison in August 1996 after Harrison was shot for trying to sell a rival's product on the gang's turf.
Luciano also is charged with pistol-whipping a distraught man on New Year's Day 1996 for getting too upset and attracting police attention when his mother collapsed on a sidewalk.
Arsenault said Luciano avoided being convicted of the pistol-whipping when another gang member threatened to kill the man if he cooperated with police. He said the gang made similar threats to patrons of several diners when gang members assaulted people there.
Dead Man Walking is one of four drug gangs broken up in the last year on the lower East Side, officials said. More than 120 people have been arrested.
Safir said the focus on gang activities has resulted in a 64% drop in murders and a 21% decline in felonious assaults in the 9th Precinct.
Morgenthau said Luciano's group used children under 16 to transport heroin, test and sell drugs and serve as lookouts for unmarked police cars. The gang paid its young help with expensive items such as sneakers and leather jackets.