After Major Drug Rings Bust, Guardian Angels Founder Curtis Sliwa Says Police Must Remain Vigilant

After the bust of two major East End heroin and cocaine rings connected with the Bloods street gang was announced this week by Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa said the threat continues — and if law enforcement does not remain vigilant, gangs will become further entrenched on the East End.

On Tuesday, Spota, standing before a table piled high with cash and six kilos of heroin and cocaine, a loaded shotgun and handgun, and gang-related magazines, said 14 have been arrested and charged in the takedown of two major East End drug rings with Bloods gang affiliations — with 40 additional arrests of resellers and runners expected.

"They think they're going to get away. But we're going to get them," Spota said.

Sliwa said the focus on gangs on the East End must be intense. "The Bloods are the largest and strongest gang on the East Coast. They are the power on Rikers Island and in the Nassau and the Suffolk County jails," he said. "Their base is New York City and they have strong affiliates in Riverhead, Hempstead, Brentwood, and Wyandanch."

The reason why gangs presence continues to fester Sliwa said, is simple: "The street drug dealing is so lucrative out on the East End. Drugs retail on the street at double the price in the East End than they
do in New York City. The Bloods value the outreach into the streets that they can do from Riverhead into the East End. East Hampton, Southampton, Southold," he said.

This week's bust, with deep gang affiliations, came as no surprise to Sliwa.

"I've been warning about the spread of the Bloods gang menace from New York City since July of 2005. That's when Mayor Kapell invited in to tackle the Bloods who controlled the drug dealing in Greenport," he said.

During Tuesday's press conference, no mention was made of any drug or gang activity in Greenport.

Back in 2005, Sliwa said, members of the Bloods gang were a visible presence in the village. "They were openly dealing out of the parking lot on Front and Third street . . . and the basketball court in 3rd street park."

That's when the Guardian Angels took a stand, recruiting local members and forming patrols; those efforts continued in 2014 after a gang-related shooting in Southold. Since then, Guardian Angels patrols have been created in Greenport and in Riverhead.

In Greenport, Sliwa said, "We were able to scare the potential customers away by our mere presence. Some of the customers were coming across on the ferry from Shelter Island , buying their drugs in Greenport, and then going back to Shelter Island."

After the announcment of this week's major bust, Sliwa said efforts must continue and even intensify.

"The pressure by joint FBI AND local police departments must be constant on the Bloods. Their leaders are called generals; they are the shot-callers. Whether they are in jail or on the streets they call all the shots, with smuggled in cell phones that they use in jail, or messages retrieved by Bloods members who visit their generals in jail. They are able to convey their street orders to their street Blood soldiers."

Law enforcement, he said, must have a direct link to the New York City Police Department's gang unit, which tracks the Blood members and their many subsets. "Failure to do so will mean that the Bloods will have unfettered access to the East End," he said.

Some gang members charged this week in the bust are Stones, which, Sliwa said, are just a subset of the Bloods; they are unified and not warring amongst one another. The Bloods have no affiliation with the Latin Kings, Ms-13, Sur, or 18th ST. on Long Island, Sliwa said."Their enemies on Long Island are the Crips."