Powered by Blogger.

rss

Sunday 24 February 2008

O-DUB and Georgia Deadly Boys and the Colur Tyme Tattooz & Things a black market bazaar for local gangs


Operation Augusta Ink turned out to be the second-largest storefront weapon seizure in the history of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. At last count, 105 men, women and juveniles have been arrested on drug, theft and firearm charges stemming from Colur Tyme Tattooz & Things, the Tobacco Road parlor that served as a black market bazaar for local gangs. In the spring of 2006, investigators approached a tattoo artist nicknamed Lil' John, whose real name is being withheld by authorities to protect his identity, about providing information about gang members. Police knew Lil' John was running an illegal tattoo parlor out of his home and had made a name for himself by tattooing members of south Augusta gangs such as O-DUB and Georgia Deadly Boys. Officers saw Lil' John as a way into the world of Augusta's gangs and offered him money and protection in return for his help. Police had been watching the gang problem grow in Augusta for years and reached a point where they felt the need to be more proactive, according to Lt. Scott Peebles. Within a month, members of the department, including Lt. Peebles, Maj. Ken Autry and Capt. Jack Francisco, started looking for a rental property and those willing to go undercover to staff it. From the beginning, only a handful of people knew Colur Tyme peddled more than just tattoos and Phillie blunt cigars.
"They were told you don't talk about this with anyone because not only will you be fired, but we can, we will, prosecute you," Lt. Peebles said. "That's how serious we took it, and I think that's how serious they took it."
Soon, they set about creating two operations: one a legitimate tattoo parlor with the motto "We buy things others won't," the other a system of networks within local gangs that enabled them to buy those "things," namely stolen guns and drugs.
Augusta Ink began with Lil' John giving tattoos and forwarding his criminal contacts to Chris, a large, bearded officer who would not give his last name. Chris' task was legitimizing the business. He paid the bills and handled the day-to-day operation of the shop while negotiating drug and weapon sales. It was Investigator Brown, who went by the nickname "Yardie," short for Yardbird, who acted as the tough guy. With eight years of service in the U.S. Army Special Operations and an early life on the streets of Queens, coupled with a sawed-off shotgun, Investigator Brown instilled a sense of fear and respect into everyone who entered the shop.
"(They thought) that I was crazy -- that some of the ATF guys were crazy," he said. "You know, he (Chris) was always quiet, so they thought he was crazy. They just wouldn't come in and start no trouble."
That fear made Colur Tyme neutral ground to gangs -- a sanctuary. Rival gang members would shoot each other in the streets, but in the tattoo parlor all they fired off were dirty looks, according to Dan Carrier, who worked with Sgt. Blaise Dresser behind the scenes to identify every suspect that made a sale.
"They seemed to realize that if they did do something up there, the money would run out," Investigator Carrier said. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
Suspects were told the weapons they sold were headed to New York. Investigator Brown maintained that he made regular trips to New York City to unload Augusta's stolen guns. In reality, the weapons made a much shorter trip to the ATF crime lab in Savannah.With thousands of dollars in cash and weapons entering the store, being robbed was a very real fear. It could not only mean injury or death for the undercover officers, but also the end of the operation. If it happened, investigators were told to cooperate, hand over their money and report the crime like any other business owner. A gunman robbed Taylor's Banquet, a salon and banquet hall that shared a parking lot with Colur Tyme, in November 2006. Just minutes after the holdup, the gunman and his three accomplices came into Colur Tyme. Their faces were captured on several of the cameras wired throughout the building, but to use the images to arrest the suspects would have meant the end of Augusta Ink.
"The deputy and the business owner came next door, and I told them what I'd seen," Chris said. "I told them what kind of vehicle (the suspects) had, because it was parked right in front of the shop. They had no idea. They treated me like I was a business."Three teenagers involved in the robbery were arrested that night without the Augusta Ink tapes. The fourth, a 16-year-old Cross Creek High School student, was picked up by police two months later. The team learned from the experience. They brought in extra help, both from their department and the ATF. Months later, they would rely on that help when dealing with three of their top targets: Jacob Plowright, Nathaniel Jones and Raphael Milligan.
It was late New Year's Day 2007 when Paul Patel was working in the freezer of his store, Richmond Hill Market. His wife, Binal, was at the counter when two men, later identified as Mr. Plowright and Mr. Jones, pointed handguns at her and demanded cash. Hearing the commotion, Mr. Patel rushed from the back of the store to aid his wife. Startled, the suspects fired their guns, striking Mr. Patel in the left leg and the abdomen. Severely injured, Mr. Patel was rushed to Medical College of Georgia Hospital for treatment and survived. Investigators said that before the shooting, they had no knowledge of the group. But they say that changed a day later when Mr. Plowright sold a 9 mm handgun to an undercover officer. ATF ballistics tests connected the gun to the shooting of Mr. Patel, and the undercover investigators found themselves in another difficult situation.
"At a point when we realized everything they were involved in," Lt. Peebles said, they thought, "OK, how are we going to arrest them and keep them in jail without using anything from the operations as evidence, because once we do that it exposes the operation?"The violence continued. A little more than a month later, a bouncer at Club Dreams on Washington Road was shot twice in the chest. A week after that, police say, Mr. Plowright appeared in Colur Tyme again -- this time accompanied by Mr. Jones. For $240, they sold police a .40-caliber handgun that ballistics tests later matched to the club shooting. By then, police had connected Mr. Plowright and Mr. Milligan to the robbery of the Video Warehouse on Tobacco Road. Mr. Plowright was also accused of stealing a billfold from a 16-year-old Sonic employee in October 2006.In late April, Mr. Jones was arrested and charged with the shooting at Club Dreams. Two weeks later, Investigator Carrier and Investigator Paul Godden said, they followed Mr. Plowright, who was driving a stolen car, from Colur Tyme and tried to do a traffic stop. He rammed the investigators with his car, then led them on a half-mile chase to the entrance of the Raintree subdivision before he was captured. After his arrest, a stolen Colt .45 pistol was found beneath the car seat.
Because he rammed the investigators' vehicle, police said they were able to charge him with aggravated assault on a police officer, ensuring that he would remain in jail until trial, and they managed to keep Augusta Ink quiet for the time being
"He basically handed us 'no bond' on a silver platter," Lt. Peebles said.Essential to the success of Augusta Ink were the close bonds the undercover investigators built with their targets, according to police. Suspects vented to their business associates, who happened to work in the Richmond County sheriff's office.

2 comments:

Unknown on 15 March 2016 at 03:55 said...

ninest123 16.03
polo ralph lauren outlet, longchamp outlet, longchamp, michael kors outlet, ray ban sunglasses, nike free, oakley sunglasses, burberry outlet online, jordan shoes, louboutin, longchamp outlet, replica watches, michael kors, cheap oakley sunglasses, michael kors outlet, chanel handbags, gucci outlet, ray ban sunglasses, ugg boots, tory burch outlet, tiffany and co, oakley sunglasses, louis vuitton, ugg boots, louis vuitton, nike air max, nike outlet, michael kors outlet, ugg boots, louis vuitton outlet, nike air max, michael kors outlet, burberry, louboutin outlet, prada handbags, oakley sunglasses, replica watches, louis vuitton, tiffany jewelry, christian louboutin outlet, ray ban sunglasses, ugg boots, louis vuitton outlet, uggs on sale, polo ralph lauren outlet, michael kors outlet, prada outlet, louboutin shoes, oakley sunglasses

Unknown on 15 March 2016 at 03:57 said...

true religion outlet, nike free run uk, ray ban uk, ralph lauren pas cher, michael kors, north face, coach outlet, michael kors, lululemon, ray ban pas cher, nike air max, oakley pas cher, converse pas cher, nike air max, sac longchamp, vanessa bruno, hermes, hogan, hollister pas cher, air force, abercrombie and fitch, tn pas cher, vans pas cher, true religion jeans, kate spade handbags, true religion jeans, new balance pas cher, air max, north face, nike roshe, louboutin pas cher, true religion jeans, longchamp pas cher, mulberry, burberry, coach purses, michael kors, ralph lauren uk, nike blazer, air jordan pas cher, nike free, sac guess, lacoste pas cher, coach outlet, hollister, nike roshe run, replica handbags, timberland, michael kors, nike air max

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

van

Pageviews from the past week

van

Drug Enforcement automatically monitors news articles and blog posts tracking breaking news of arrests and drug incidents as they happen worldwide .These inter-active News Reports are followed as they develop. Giving you the chance to comment on breaking stories as they happen. Drug Enforcement alerts you to topics that are frequently linked to and commented upon in the world press. Someone is arrested every 20 seconds for a drug related offense !Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post here. Comments are subject to the Blogspots terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of the Drug Enforcement site. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.

Popular Posts

Latest Templates

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Map

Friend's Link

Blog Archive

 

Privacy Policy (site specific)

Privacy Policy (site specific)
Privacy Policy :This blog may from time to time collect names and/or details of website visitors. This may include the mailing list, blog comments sections and in various sections of the Connected Internet site.These details will not be passed onto any other third party or other organisation unless we are required to by government or other law enforcement authority.If you contribute content, such as discussion comments, to the site, your contribution may be publicly displayed including personally identifiable information.Subscribers to the mailing list can unsubscribe at any time by writing to info (at) copsandbloggers@googlemail.com. This site links to independently run web sites outside of this domain. We take no responsibility for the privacy practices or content of such web sites.This site uses cookies to save login details and to collect statistical information about the numbers of visitors to the site.We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and would like to know your options in relation to·not having this information used by these companies, click hereThis site is suitable for all ages, but not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years old.This policy will be updated from time to time. If we make significant changes to this policy after that time a notice will be posted on the main pages of the website.

Latest News

Add to Technorati Favorites
Site Specific Privacy Policy run in accordance with http://www.google.com/privacy.html
We can be reached via e-mail at
copsandbloggers@googlemail.com
For each visitor to our Web page, our Web server automatically recognizes information of your browser, IP address, City/State/Country.
We collect only the domain name, but not the e-mail address of visitors to our Web page, the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail.
The information we collect is used for internal review and is then discarded, used to improve the content of our Web page, used to customize the content and/or layout of our page for each individual visitor.
With respect to cookies: We use cookies to store visitors preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors' browser type or other information that the visitor sends.
With respect to Ad Servers: To try and bring you offers that are of interest to you, we have relationships with other companies like Google (www.google.com/adsense) that we allow to place ads on our Web pages. As a result of your visit to our site, ad server companies may collect information such as your domain type, your IP address and clickstream information. For further information, consult the privacy policy of:
http://www.google.com/privacy.html
copsandbloggers@googlemail.com
If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us at the above email address.