#Los_Angeles
10 entries tagged Los_Angeles.
People (7)
- Andy Furillo Andy Furillo was a Los Angeles Times police beat reporter who wrote the first national press story about crack cocaine in November 1984, documenting the explosion of rock houses in South Central Los Angeles.
- Jerry Guzzetta Bell Police Department narcotics detective whose personal vendetta against drug dealers led to the Torres brothers investigation, codenamed Project Sahara, which uncovered the massive Blandon-Ross cocaine network.
- Malcolm Klein Malcolm Klein was a USC sociologist who, with colleague Cheryl Maxson, conducted the first scientific study of the early Los Angeles crack market in 1985, documenting the proliferation of rock houses and street gang involvement.
- Robert Byck Yale University cocaine expert who warned Congress in 1979 about an impending freebase cocaine epidemic, was ignored, and returned in 1986 to criticize the government's failure to act.
- Steve Polak LAPD narcotics detective who patrolled South Central Los Angeles from the earliest days of crack cocaine and developed an intense personal vendetta against Ricky Ross, ultimately planting a kilo of cocaine to frame him.
- Thomas Gordon LASD Major Violators detective who led the investigation into the Blandon-Ross cocaine network after receiving Jerry Guzzetta's Project Sahara reports.
- Torres Brothers The Torres brothers, known as "the Greens," were Nicaraguan cocaine traffickers who worked for Danilo Blandón before becoming independent suppliers to Ricky Ross, eventually rivaling Blandón in volume and sparking a bitter feud.
Organizations (3)
- Crips The Crips are a Los Angeles street gang that became the primary distribution network for crack cocaine across the United States, spreading from South Central L.A. to cities nationwide during the mid-1980s.
- LAPD Municipal police department that witnessed but failed to identify the emergence of crack cocaine in South Central L.A. in 1982.
- LASD Major Violators Elite narcotics units of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that investigated the Blandon-Ross cocaine network and were considered among the best drug detectives in the nation.