ACCESSION NUMBER:210457
1ILE ID:AR-408
DATE:01/16/92
TITLE: *ARF408 01/16/92 * (01/16/92)
TEXT: *ARF408 01/16/92 *
O(Spanish coming)
HFBI LINKS U.S. STREET GANG WITH MEDELLIN CARTEL
SH(Members of LA gang drug network arrested) (480)
TLOS ANGELES -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) broke up a drug
distribution network operated by Los Angeles gang members who were selling
cocaine and crack supplied by the Medellin cartel for the past 10 years.
Two people were arrested, three remain at large, and a sixth is already
incarcerated on a previous conviction. All have been charged with federal
drug trafficking offenses, the FBI announced Jan. 8.
"This is the first time we have definitely linked street gangs to a
Colombian cartel," said John Hoos, a spokesman in the agency's Los Angeles
office. "We had intelligence in the past that the cartels were supplying
narcotics to U.S. street gangs, and this confirms it."
He said the "Crips" street gang was importing about 400 kilograms of
cocaine a month with the assistance of the Medellin cartel. The cocaine
was transported from Colombia through Mexico to Los Angeles overland, and
from there sent to various U.S. cities in the West, including Honolulu,
Hawaii, and Anchorage, Alaska. The gang was netting about $3 million
annually.
An FBI statement noted that "the Colombian cartels have sold and continue
to sell drugs to upper-level street gang dealers on a consignment basis, a
strong indicator of the developing trust between the cartels and street gang
drug dealers."
The drug network was headed by Stacey Harper, 33, and Ernest Bronson, 27,
the statement said. Harper was arrested in Anchorage and Bronson remains
at large. They are both Americans, as are two other suspects.
Two suspects are Colombian: Blanca Liria Mosquera, 45, who is at large,
and her husband Orlando Guttierez-Ramos (spelling correct), who is in a
California state prison.
The arrested suspects are being held without bail. If brought to trial
and convicted, two suspects face life sentences and the others face
minimum mandatory sentences of at least 20 years.
The FBI has initiated proceeds to seize luxury automobiles, businesses,
residences, bank accounts, and personal property such as jewelry believed
to have been purchased with illicit drug proceeds.
Virtually all of the cocaine sold by the gang was converted to crack, the
most addictive form of the drug. The FBI noted that gang homicides have
erupted in Los Angeles since the introduction of crack in 1982. At that
time there were 205 gang homicides; last year there were more than 700.
On Jan. 9, the FBI announced it would move 300 agents from
counterintelligence to help state and local authorities investigate
violent gangs.
The transfer of agents, the FBI said, is an expansion of "Operation Safe
Streets," launched last November to deal with the drug-related violent
crime problem in Washington. Los Angeles and New York were the two of 39
cities slated to gain the most agents.
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1CCESSION NUMBER:209758
FILE ID:AR-410
DATE:01/16/92
TITLE:ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16 (01/16/92)
TEXT:*ARF410 01/16/92
ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16
(Real earnings) (190)
AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS AT LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1958
WASHINGTON -- U.S. workers' inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings
went down in 1991 for the fifth year in a row.
Pre-tax earnings for private, nonfarm production and nonsupervisory workers
averaged $256.00 (in 1982 dollars) a week in 1991, down 0.1 percent from
1990, the Department of Labor reported January 16. Real weekly earnings
were at their lowest since 1958, when they were $250.27.
The record for average real earnings was $315.44 in 1972, the year before
the first oil embargo set off nearly a decade of high inflation. After
reaching a more recent peak of $274.73 in 1984, real earnings have dropped
every year except 1986.
ANNUAL CHANGE IN REAL AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS
Percent, calculated in 1982 dollars, production or nonsupervisory workers on
private nonfarm payrolls.
1981 -1.5 1986 0.3
1982 -1.2 1987 -1.0
1983 2.0 1988 -0.9
1984 0.8 1989 -1.0
1985 -1.3 1990 -1.7
1991 -0.1
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