COCAINE: The Los Angeles Police and the City Hall Connection
Los Angeles is a city in denial about its cocaine addiction and the
corruption it has caused in its major institutions which include not
only the Los Angeles Police Department but also City Hall. Now, like a
stumbling drug junkie, it is attempting to extricate itself from one of
the most horrendous scandals in the history of institutional crime. The
victims as usual have been people of color, the poor, the powerless and
of course the helplessly addicted. Perhaps the LAPD chief along with
calling for the FBI to assist with the investigation should also call in
the federal Drug Enforcement Administration!
The physical, economic and sociological elements that exist in Los
Angeles are perfect for the development of what we are now witnessing in
terms of the moral disintegration of one of the largest police agencies
in the nation. The very close proximity of Hollywood with all its money
and inexhaustible demand for the "white powder," a city hall where
recently two of its councilmen have been implicated in the purchase and
use of cocaine and in-between these two locations , the
immigrant community of Pico-Union where the only source of work for many
of its youths is to sell drugs makes for a volatile combination that has
resulted in the temptation of rogue officers to involve themselves in the
multi-billion a year drug trade and the associated protection racket.
Lets make no mistake about it, cocaine is flowing into L.A. by the
ton. Most of it first lands in "protected safe zones " like Pico-Union
where it is cut up and bundled for various forms of distribution. Some
of it is left in "keys" for large scale buyers from Beverly Hills and
for the distributors that supply the Hollywood industry. Some of it is
bundled up in "eight balls" for wealthy recreational users who either
buy it from their own personal connections or from street dealers they
know in the Pico-Union area. The third way of selling it is to "rock it
up" into "crack" that can be broken into $5, $10 and $20 dollar size
pieces and sold to the thousands of street users that crave it.
The Los Angeles City Councilman that was arrested and convicted for
cocaine use and possession bought his in "eight ball" sizes from his own
constituents in the Pico-Union area. This same councilman is still
serving as the official city government representative of Pico - Union
and of the area where the corrupt LAPD Ramparts Division is located.
The other Los Angeles City Councilman got his in "keys" from friends he
did political favors for. This other councilman resigned last year
after a wide ranging federal investigation was closing in on him. Some
of his staff members testified that he would come in from the bathroom
with his nostrils all full of some kind of "white powder" and that his
desk was always full of a white residue.
Anyone that doesn't know how much in cocaine sales we are talking about
is a genuine innocent. Like Carl Sagan the Scientist would say, "we are
talking of millions and millions and millions..." of 'buck-a-roolies' that
have to be collected, bundled and laundered clean. This operation takes
organization and sophistication. It takes the collusion of businesses
and banking institutions and the cooperation of law enforcement agencies
that must agree to look the other way or even provide direct protection
for the large scale operations.
Anytime we have massive drug operations as in the Ramparts area of Los
Angeles, you will always find deadly competition among rival
competitors struggling to control the turf. Unfortunately there are
very strong temptations on the police in terms of money, drug use and
the associated sex connected to cocaine. Wherever you have cocaine
flowing freely on the streets you also have many young women willing to
give up their bodies for a "fix" and not only do the providers of the
drugs answer the call but also the police. The confessions of the LA cop
informant clearly outlines this phenomena.
In this milieu where the "cartels" are utilizing young impoverish immigrant
youths to sell their drugs and at the same time supplying high city
government officials with their "fixes," makes for very tight control
of their trade. The cartels use the police to squash any rival
competition. The rogue cops beat up and frame any youths or anyone else
who attempt to move in on the turf of those who employ them. This has
already happened to thousands of Latino youths in the Pico-Union area of
Los Angeles in what is now being called the worst police corruption
scandal in the history of the city.
Worst of all, and there are allegations of this, that rogue cops set up
"good cops" for assassination in collusion with criminal elements
because they fear the good cop might talk. There is at least one case
where reliable sources have stated that this happened. The youth, who
is in prison for the crime, turned himself in after his mother informed
him that the LAPD was looking for him maintains his innocence to this
day. The case involves the killing of a cop in his squad car while he
was waiting for backup. He was killed in a hail of bullets shot through
the rear window of his squad car. The young cop was lured to a
location in the heavily drug trafficking area with a call of a "loud
party."
Citizens of the "City of Angels" must come to grips with this awful
reality. We must come out of denial and start accepting what is so
difficult to reconcile. Drugs and specially cocaine is destroying our
children, our schools, our institutions and society as a whole but not
because of the inherent nature of the drugs but because of the way we
are handling or more appropriately mishandling them. Our jails and
prisons are now full of mostly drug offenders and most of these
offenders are non-violent. The real criminals are now those in
legitimate institutions who are benefiting financially from the trade.
We must take the profit away from drugs and treat those who are addicted
as a medical problem. Only then will we control the spiraling crime
wave which has now corrupted our law enforcement agencies and threatens
the demise of our most cherished institutions.
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