Operation Fly Trap: L.A. Gangs, Drugs, and the Law

187 Pages·2012·0.66 MB·English

by  Susan A Phillips

Operation Fly Trap

Operation Fly Trap
L.A. Gangs, Drugs, and the Law
susan a. phillips
the university of chicago press chicago and london
susan a. phillips is professor of environmen-
tal analysis at Pitzer College and the author of
Wallbangin’: Graffi ti and Gangs in L.A.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2012 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2012.
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-66765-2 (cloth)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-66766-9 (paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-66765-0 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-66766-9 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Phillips, Susan A., 1969–
Operation Fly Trap : L.A. gangs, drugs, and the law / Susan A. Phillips.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-66765-2 (alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-66765-0 (alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-66766-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-66766-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Gangs—California—Los Angeles—Case
studies. 2. Drug control—Social aspects—United States. 3. Drug traffi c—Investigation—
California—Los Angeles—Case studies. 4. Gang prevention—California—Los Angeles—
Case studies. 5. Drug enforcement agents—California—Los Angeles—Case studies.
6. Informers—California—Los Angeles—Case studies. I. Title.
hv6439.u7p465 2012
363.4509794′94—dc23
2011036114
o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/n iso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
for alex and katherine

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
chapter 1. The Game 22
chapter 2. Charlotte’s Web 42
chapter 3. Broken Families 67
chapter 4. Cutting the Head off the Snake 84
chapter 5. The Prosecutor’s Darling 110
Conclusion: Fruit of the Poison Tree 132
Notes 143
Bibliography 153
Index 161

Acknowledgments
Many people have helped shape this book. My work in the Pueblos
would have been impossible without the friendship of Ben Kapone
(now deceased), and without the love and acceptance of his family and
friends, especially Nakisha Lee, Robert Johnson, Tracy Duffi n, and Linda
Clemmons (now deceased). In the Villains neighborhood, I thank Genia
Jackson for opening her home to me and for putting me in contact with
other Fly Trap family members. Much earlier, in 1995, I had been an in-
tern at the Black Women’s Health Project in that same neighborhood,
and I thank Frances Jemmott and Eloise Joseph for launching me into the
community work that would culminate in this project.
For early and sustained support of research and writing, I thank Tom
Hayden, George Lipsitz, Barry Sanders, and Diego Vigil. For help with
mapping, statistics, and crime data analysis, I thank Jeff Godown and
Nathan Ong of the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) compstat
unit, Lee Munroe of Pitzer College, and Warren Roberts at Honnold-
Mudd Library. I was able to interview two law enforcement leaders for
this project. I am grateful to Los Angeles County Sherriff Lee Baca
and District Attorney Steve Cooley, and to their respective offi ces. Sally
Swartz at Federal Correctional Institution Dublin facilitated interviews
inside that institution, and Susan McKee at the FBI guided me through
formal permissions for interviews. I thank the FBI and LAPD media re-
lations departments for granting approval for research. Marc Mauer of
the Sentencing Project met with me early on to discuss federal sentencing
law, and John Mutter of Columbia University’s Earth Institute explained
the impact of stress on women’s lives post–Hurricane Katrina as I sought
a frame of comparison for my project. Robert Weisberg at Stanford Law
School and Nkechi Taifa at the Open Society Policy Center helped tighten