OPERATION ROTTEN APPLE LEADS TO THE ARREST OF 37 DOPE DEALERS!

As groundskeepers cleaned the Yankee Stadium field in preparation for Game 6 of the World Series, just 10 blocks away investigators were cleaning two housing projects of two violent South Bronx drug gangs.
Federal agents and police arrested 37 drug dealers named in six federal indictments that brought down two major gangs that openly sold drugs in the Melrose Houses, Jackson Houses and the surrounding Morrisania neighborhood, investigators said. Three of those arrested were already in custody and several others remain at large.

"The residents of the Bronx have a couple of reasons to be happy today," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "The Yankees are back home and a major drug-dealing operation, just 10 blocks from Yankee Stadium, has been taken out of business."

The several agencies spent close to a year infiltrating the gangs, charging 53 people - including those arrested yesterday - as part of "Operation Rotten Apple," investigators said.

The gangs operated side-by-side, hiring "managers" and "pitchers" who sold the drugs on the streets, said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District.

Ringleaders Johnnie Weaver and Dwayne Henry operated the larger group, while Tyrone Barnes took over the rest of the area, Bharara said.

"For too long, these narcotics rings have operated as virtual drug monopolies in the Bronx," Bharara added. "Families in this city have the right to live in neighborhoods free from the poison of drugs and violence."

Several agencies, including the NYPD, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration were involved.

Along the way, they searched 22 locations, seized four firearms, $18,000 in cash and about 1,000 small bags of heroin.

Officials said the gangs terrorized the neighborhood with violence and impunity. Many of the guns they found here and at other unrelated searches tend to come from out of state, said Ronald Turk, special agent in charge with the ATF.

And they were not afraid to use them. Nine of those indicted had murder or attempted murder rap sheets, investigators said.

"Over the past 18 months, we have identified and targeted several out-of-state gun suppliers of this gang and will continue to combat illegal firearms trafficking in the city," Turk said.

The drug sellers packaged the small bags of crack and heroin in small bags with names like "Scorpion" and "Magic," ranging in price from $10 to $100.

If found guilty, those charged face 10 years to life in prison, Bharara said.

Kelly said that now that that area of Morrisania has been cleaned up, it's up to police and crime watchers to be on the lookout for new gangs taking over.

"We just have to keep a watchful eye," Kelly said.