Sometime in our near future, Watertown will have a new police
chief. Whomever that individual turns out to be, they will bring with them to
the office a new personality and a new relationship with members of the city
council and with members of the community.
The new chief should be at ease fielding questions, complaints, and
demands coming from all corners of our community, including from those who
challenge the honesty, credibility, and legitimacy of the police.
As a member of the community, I have questions about how policing
is being conducted in Watertown at a time when non-violent crime – shoplifting
and other categories of theft – seems to be rampant while violent crimes,
common in nearby communities, seem to be almost nonexistent within our borders.
At the top of my list of questions are:
What should the general public know about the threat
of violent crime in Watertown? (How serious is it?)
How does the WPD deal with it? (I’m
looking for specifics)
What should we not know about how the WPD deals
with violent crime?
Why exactly should we not know it?
A recent story appeared a few months ago on the Massachusetts State
Police Facebook page. There are three mentions that stand out to me.
One mention will be obvious everyone. One will be obvious to tv crime
junkies like me and a third surprised me and might also surprise you unless you
are a member or close observer of law enforcement.
We’ll see if you have the same reactions to those three mentions
that I had. Also, I would like you to ask yourself two questions: What
information does this story leave out? And what more would you like to know about
this story, if you were allowed to know it?
Here’s the story:
August 21, 2022 – Massachusetts State Police
STATE POLICE, FEDERAL AGENTS, TASK FORCE
INTERCEPT 15 KILOS OF COCAINE BROUGHT INTO MASS. FROM MEXICO, TAKE TWO INTO
CUSTODY FOR TRAFFICKING
“Massachusetts State Police, federal agents, and members of a joint
task force on Monday apprehended two Mexican nationals who brought 15 kilograms
of cocaine into the state from Mexico in a tractor-trailer. The two suspects
were arrested after surveillance officers observed a narcotics transaction at
the Ludlow Service Plaza.”
“Gerardo Madrigal Quintero, 23, of Culiacan, Mexico, and Joel
Enrique Armenta Castro, 30, of Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, were taken into custody
by State Troopers, FBI-Boston special agents and task force officers assigned
to the FBI Boston Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, including
members of the State Police Narcotics Section. Both men have been charged by
the state with trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine and conspiracy to
violate drug law and are being prosecuted by Hampden District Attorney Anthony
Gulluni’s Office.”
“This case is being investigated by the Boston Organized Drug
Enforcement Strike Force that includes the FBI Boston Division, members of the Massachusetts
State Police Narcotics Section, the Concord, Hudson, Peabody, Reading, Waltham and
Watertown Police Departments, Massachusetts Department of Correction, and the
Norfolk County Sheriff’s Department.”
The stand-out mention obvious to everyone is the Waltham
and Watertown Police Departments. What was conspicuously left out is: What
was their involvement in this investigation? The arrests were made 75 miles
away, in Ludlow.
The less obvious stand-out mention is Sinaloa, Mexico.
If you binge-watched Narcos Mexico, you are aware that Sinaloa is home to one
of the oldest, most prominent, and most ruthless drug cartels in the world.
Were the two suspects independent operators? Highly unlikely. Were they members
of the Sinaloa cartel? I would like to know.
The surprising stand-out mention (to me) referred to the number
of law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation, comprised of
federal, state, county, and local – totaling eleven! This raises several
questions. Clearly (in my amateur opinion) this case did not begin with the arrests
in Ludlow. So, where exactly did it begin? Possibly Mexico? And how did this
investigation, involving an extensive network of law enforcement agencies begin?
If we had the whole picture, would we see a dotted line connecting
the Sinaloa cartel and the WPD?
I doubt that we will learn more until the investigation moves
forward to the point where the DOJ or the DEA makes more of the story public.
In the meantime, I am forced to speculate.
We know that the Mexican and Latin American cartels are drug
suppliers that smuggle heroin, counterfeit opioids, and fentanyl into the U.S. In
fact, it is reasonable to suspect, from following recent trends, that the
cocaine that was seized might be laced with fentanyl, making it more profitable,
more addictive, and more deadly.
Once smuggled into the U.S., distributors take over, either selling
the product directly to users or wholesaling it to dealers. These distributors
are violent street gangs, waging ongoing battles for territory and customers while
terrorizing the neighborhoods they occupy.
Ten miles from the Ludlow service plaza is the city of Springfield,
home to approximately 30 violent street gangs, including
the infamous Latin Kings. All of them distribute or deal illicit drugs.
So, what exactly does the WPD know about how much of the cocaine supply
was headed to Waltham and Watertown, how it would arrive here, and how it would
be sold once it arrived?
Another case that is even more alarming and also hits close to home
is this one. Like the previous case, it provides us with some valuable puzzle
pieces but keeps some key pieces in a box, out of our sight.
(I’ve mentioned this one in a previous blog post, Gangbangers, Fentanyl, Snapchat and
Why Teenagers Are Sitting Ducks but it has equal relevance
here)
February 16, 2022
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office,
District of Massachusetts
TWO RHODE ISLAND MEN CHARGED IN WIDE-RANGING
FENTANYL TRAFFICKING CONSPIRACY
“Jasdrual Perez, 33, of Cranston, R.I., and Erik Ventura, 33, of
Providence, R.I., were charged with one count each of conspiracy to distribute
and possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
According to the charging documents, in September 2019, agents
began an investigation into a drug trafficking organization (DTO) headed by
Perez. The investigation revealed that Perez, Ventura and others allegedly
conspired to distribute large quantities of controlled substances, including
fentanyl pills, to customers in numerous locations across Massachusetts, Rhode
Island and New York.
The investigation further revealed that the DTO manufactured
fentanyl pills for distribution. In July 2021, law enforcement seized close to
1,100 counterfeit oxycodone pills suspected to contain fentanyl in Dedham,
allegedly attributable to the Perez DTO.”
So, this press release is alarming because it identifies
“counterfeit oxycodone pills, suspected of containing fentanyl.” And while it
indicates intended distribution across Massachusetts and specifically mentions
Dedham, there is no specific mention of Watertown or Waltham.
However, the Facebook page of the Newton Police Department adds a
critical piece of information. Here’s the headline:
February 16, 2022
ANOTHER HUGE CASE INVOLVING A NEWTON POLICE
TASK FORCE OFFICER THAT RESULTED IN THE ARREST OF TWO INDIVIDUALS AND MORE THAN
50,000 COUNTERFEIT OXYCODONE PILLS SUSPECTED TO CONTAIN FENTANYL SEIZED.
Here’s their shoutout to a Newton police detective:
“TFO Detective Spirito was instrumental to this case and the
culmination of this incredibly successful investigation. We are grateful to
Detective Spirito for representing NPD as a member of the DEA task force and
for the team's efforts in removing this poison from our communities and holding
drug trafficking organizations accountable.”
So why was a Newton police detective involved in the arrests of two
Rhode Island drug dealers?
I asked that question through the Newton Police Department’s
Facebook page.
The answer provided was that the Newton officer was assigned
to the Boston area task force of the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) and he “was a significant asset in assistance with the
investigation.”
I also asked if the fact that a Newton police officer was involved
in the case meant that some amount of those counterfeit pills was intended to
be distributed in Newton. Because if Newton was one of the communities being
targeted, residents of Watertown might have reason to be concerned that some of
those counterfeit oxycodone pills, laced with fentanyl − a drug 50 times
stronger than heroin − would have gotten into the hands of some unsuspecting
Watertown residents, including school kids.
Here’s the answer I received from the Newton Police Department:
“We have no direct information that any of the
drugs seized were heading to Newton, but with that large amount, I'm sure some
would have definitely made it this way!”
Well, if “made it this way” means Newton, it also means Waltham,
Belmont, and Watertown. Drug dealers go where the customers are. And there are
customers everywhere.
If we add to these two stories, the many reports of drug-related gang
turf wars in Boston, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, Cambridge, and Somerville
and the reports of drug deals and arrests in Watertown (there are dozens), Waltham, Newton, Belmont, and other Boston suburbs, over the past few years, a
picture emerges of a serious regional crime threat being countered by a regional
law enforcement network.
I’m guessing that there are many ongoing investigations, some of
them interconnected, and that key information cannot be shared with the public without
those investigations and future prosecutions being compromised. The jigsaw
puzzle will always have missing pieces because, when releasing information, there
must be a line that can’t be crossed.
But the new police chief might be willing and able to bring us
closer to that line and give us a better reading on Watertown’s current crime threat
and some valuable insight into how the WPD addresses it.
Maybe then, we can begin to gain valuable perspective on the challenges
of policing in a rapidly changing environment that surrounds and permeates a
rapidly changing city.
Bruce Coltin, The Battle for Watertown
