Drug Ring Busted At Newark Youth Recreation Center: Feds

NEWARK, NJ — Children came to the Rotunda Recreation and Wellness Center to play chess, find a basketball game or have a good time with some friends. But a group of alleged gang members used the popular Newark youth facility for a different reason: to run a drug pipeline, authorities say.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors announced that 12 members, associates and suppliers of the Newark-based “G-Shine” set of the Bloods street gang are facing drug trafficking charges for allegedly using the Rotunda Recreation center on Clifton Avenue as a base to sell heroin, fentanyl and crack-cocaine.

The scheme involved three of the center's employees, the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

Charges included:

• Edward Williams, 51, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Wali Duncan, 37, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Rahim Jackson, 43, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Arthur Hardy, 41, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Tieshorn Fletcher, 37, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Kareem Collier, 41, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Fuquan Bunn, 38, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin; distribution and possession with intent to distribute (heroin and cocaine base)
• Shyiem Gordon, 24, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Michael Graham, 35, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Terrell Evans, 30, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin; distribution and possession with intent to distribute (heroin and cocaine base)
• Arraheem Washington, 42, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin
• Wilfredo P. Jimenez, 47, conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin; distribution and possession with intent to distribute (heroin)

Eight of the accused gang members were scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday. One of them, Evans, remains at large, prosecutors said.

The charges and arrests are the result of a long-running wiretap investigation led by the DEA, prosecutors said.

Here’s how the ring worked, according to prosecutors:

“The organization’s leaders – Edward Williams, 51, and Wali Duncan, 37 – obtained their supply of narcotics from Rahim Jackson, 43, and Arthur Hardy, 41, who would deliver the narcotics personally or through runners. On numerous occasions, large narcotics deliveries took place in and around the Rotunda Recreation and Wellness Center on Clifton Avenue, where [Hardy, Jackson and Williams] were employees. These individuals also used the center to stash drugs and money.”

Prosecutors said Williams and Duncan are members of the G-Shine set of the Bloods street gang, which operates at the Janice Cromer Village public housing complex in Newark, also known as the Broadway Townhomes.

Duncan supplied narcotics to “numerous individuals” who would then sell them in the surrounding neighborhood, which is near two elementary schools and a high school, prosecutors said.

The investigation was part of the Violent Crime Initiative (VCI), which was formed in August 2017 to combat violent crime in and around Newark.

“That these defendants allegedly used a neighborhood rec center as a place to conceal and sell dangerous drugs is almost beyond comprehension,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Carpenito thanked special agents of DEA and ATF, members of the Newark Department of Public Safety, the NJ State Police, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Rockaway Township Police Department for assisting with the investigation.

During a press conference, Mayor Ras Baraka spoke about the allegations, stating that it was “not a good day for the city.”

Baraka said the three municipal employees will be immediately removed from their positions with the city.

According to Baraka, Hardy was mistakenly identified as the “director” of the center on the city’s website, but is actually a part-time recreational aide. Hardy was also identified as "director" of the facility in the U.S. Attorney office's initial statement.

The city doesn't currently do background checks on part-time employees, but it's a policy that may get revisited, the mayor said.

“All our recreation centers are safe,” Baraka insisted during Wednesday’s press conference. “And if we find anyone who’s doing anything illegal we will fire them.”

Not all Newark residents were convinced by the mayor’s assurances, however.

On Wednesday evening, Terrance Bankston – a Newark native who recently ran for a city council seat in the South Ward – offered the following statement about the alleged drug activity at the recreation center:

“The idea that in 2019, we could have more drug dealers running a publicly funded youth and family recreational center, than city staff members assigned to that site, let alone an entire drug market, is bewildering. It’s clear that the Director of Neighborhood Services and the former Business Administrator for the City of Newark has overtly failed to better train, empower and advise their managers, supervisors and general staff members.”

Bankston continued:

“If particularly the staff onsite claims that they had no clue... then they are likely very disconnected, in fear, naive, inexperienced and/or not qualified to work in youth-based activities or centers, particularly in a supervisory, managerial or directorial capacity. Moreover, considering the circumstances, ‘heads must roll.’ The director of this department isn’t leading... they are ideally and ineffectively supervising at best. The rest of the staff needs to be reassessed and properly trained and for some, unfortunately let go. Moreover, the site itself needs a tough vetting and a complete overhaul.”

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