Gays Dealing Drugs In Philly

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http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/10910935.htm?1c

 

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Feds: Gays dealing drugs

 

Crystal meth ravaging community

 

U.S. Drug Enforcement agents started getting information in November 2003 that a network of gay drug dealers was selling the powerful stimulant crystal meth, also known as "ice," to gay and straight drug users and other drug traffickers in Philadelphia.

 

The following month, a DEA snitch made two ice purchases, each one totaling about seven grams, from members of the network, inside a South Philadelphia rowhouse, on McKean Street near 5th.

 

Later that month, DEA agents and U.S. Postal inspectors intercepted a package that had been shipped by Federal Express from Arizona to Philadelphia, en route to the home of two of the gay dealers.

 

The box contained more than 100 grams of 100-percent pure crystal meth, also known as "Tina" and "crystal death."

 

Agents arrested the intended recipients of the package, two gay men who lived in South Philadelphia, in their home on Wolf Street near 20th.

 

Both admitted they'd been trafficking in ice for some time.

 

Hoping to avoid harsh mandatory-minimum jail terms, both men became government witnesses.

 

The feds were hoping to break up the ice network before it got bigger.

 

Some in law enforcement contend the drug has been a scourge in the gay community in recent years, especially in big Eastern U.S. cities such as Philadelphia and New York.

 

"Ice has ravaged the gay community," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Hogan recently told a federal judge, at another ice dealer's sentencing hearing.

 

"It is a vicious cycle," the prosecutor added. "Medical studies show that ice drops inhibitions, increases sexual arousal for a period of days.

 

"In the gay community, that then has resulted in an increase in AIDS... And then, the people who have AIDS and who are HIV positive become fatigued and turn to ice once again to relieve those symptoms.

 

"So, it has totally ravaged the gay community in Philadelphia and across the United States. And it is now moving out into the straight community," Hogan told the judge.

 

U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, the area's top federal prosecutor, said this week that he is very concerned about ice abuse, but isn't prepared to link the drug to an increase in AIDS.

 

James M. Kasson, the agent in charge of DEA's Philadelphia office, would only say that DEA and local police are doing everything they can to "dismantle these criminal organizations."

 

"I turned to meth as a means to escape," one convicted ice dealer, a 40-year old gay man, recently told a federal judge.

 

"The drug freed me from pain and heartache," he added.

 

"Becoming a drug addict/dealer hurt me more than anyone person could ever have. I ruined my life and am so sorry," he wrote, court records show.

 

Once used by WWII Japaneese kamikazi pilots and now produced in clandestine "super" labs in Mexico and California, more and more ice is finding its way to the East Coast.

 

Considered a potent aphrodisiac and stimulant, yet one known to cause brain damage, ice can keep a user awake for days.

 

It can sometimes lead to unsafe sex, which in turn can lead to the spread of the AIDS virus, some federal authorities contend.

 

Federal authorities have videotapes, taken inside city bathhouses, showing men using and trafficking in ice, sources said.

 

The drug also is gaining popularity in the straight community, prosecutors contend.

 

It's called "the poor man's crack," because it is slightly less expensive than crack cocaine.

 

Since the current ice investigation began about 16 months ago, federal authorities in Philadelphia have charged about 15 dealers, mostly gay men who were using the drug themselves and selling it to others.

 

One ice supplier who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., pleaded guilty in federal court in Philadelphia recently.

 

He admitted to shipping up to 500 grams to customers in Philadelphia over a six month period between December 2003 and May 2004, court records show.

 

On the street, ice sells for at least $100 a gram.

 

One of his wholesale customers was a gay union carpenter from Grays Ferry who, in turn, was selling crystal meth to both gays and straights.

 

The carpenter didn't have to send money out to Arizona to pay for the drugs he bought. He'd given his Arizona supplier his MAC card.

 

When the carpenter was ready to pay for drugs, he'd deposit money in his checking account and call the supplier to tell him the money was in the bank.

 

The supplier would withdraw $500 a day from a bank in Arizona - the limit he could take out - until the drug debt was paid, according to court records.

 

The judge sentenced him to 30 months in prison.

 

Most of the defendants prosecuted so far appear to be middle-class and fairly well-educated. One has a masters' degree in business administration.

 

Many court records related to the cases have been sealed from public view in hopes that secrecy would give agents more time to investigate and arrest other suspected dealers, sources say.

 

The agents, assisted by local police, are actively pursuing other crystal meth traffickers, sources say.

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