Alleged Skid Row Kingpin Free On Bail
Last week, we reported on the arrest of alleged LA drug kingpin, Derrick Turner. The suspected member of Athens Bloods and Grape Street supplier stands accused of flooding the impoverished Skid Row area with cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. It is said that he provided the homeless Skid Row population with $1 doses of narcotics, which would explain $600,000 in one dollar bills (part of $1.8 million total) recovered during the investigation, along with 13 kilos of cocaine, 22 pounds of methamphetamine, 20 pounds of heroin. According to reports, Turner was released on bail, on Thursday.
Turner wasn’t alone in his apprehension. A total of 16 people were arrested during the raids on Wednesday. MyNewsLA details the others arrested:
Louis Bernard McAdoo, 50, is charged with two counts of possession for sale of a controlled substance and one count each of conspiracy to commit a crime, possession of money or instruments over $100,000 and possession of a controlled substance with a firearm. The criminal complaint alleges that McAdoo was “in possession” of more than $1.5 million.
Officers allegedly recovered seven kilograms of cocaine from the vehicle McAdoo was driving, and cocaine, heroin and U.S. currency were found at one of McAdoo’s residences, according to the complaint. Henry Rodell Walker, 54, is charged with the same three counts as Turner. Chasity Diana Jackson, 42, is charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit a crime and possession for sale of cocaine base. The sweep — the result of a yearlong investigation — was the latest in years of crackdowns targeting the drug bazaar that has long operated on the streets of Skid Row, preying on a homeless community where addiction is a major problem. Over the weekend, 15 people in the area were sickened by tainted spice, or synthetic marijuana.
Turner is set to be arraigned on May 18, on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, possession for sale of a controlled substance and proceeds derived from controlled substance offenses. During a news conference, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti stated, “Los Angeles will not tolerate anyone who preys on some of the most vulnerable people we have in our city — people who have deep challenges with mental health, people who have in the past or still are today addicted to drugs and to other substances, people who have come back from war.”
Read here about Mississippi Bloods leader who was recently convicted with his wife.
