GANG TASK FORCE ARRESTS 45 ON DRUG, WEAPONS CHARGES

The Miami-Dade Gang Task Force swept through North Miami-Dade,
arresting 45 people and seizing cocaine, marijuana and assault rifles.

The street was dark in North Miami Beach, and the skinny teenager in
the red T-shirt stood on the sidewalk drinking a Corona. Not a violent crime.

But for the gang detectives, it was intriguing enough.

A closer look revealed a five-point crown tattooed on the underside
of his left arm. On his left calf, the word King, on the right Love.
On his left ankle, the tattoo read ADR -- or Amor del Rey, Spanish
for Love from the King.

Signs of the gang known as the Latin Kings.

"It's something to do when you have no family. You get love," the
teenager told detectives. "It's just a bunch of guys looking out for
each other."

The teen, who said he joined the gang while living in Connecticut but
was no longer active, was arrested Friday night for underage drinking
by Miami-Dade's Multi-Agency Gang Task Force.

It's a group of local, state and federal officers who, using
street-level intelligence, periodically sweep through the county.

The task force, 52 strong this night, fanned out across North
Miami-Dade, arresting 45 people; 17 on felony charges, 20 on
misdemeanors and eight on outstanding warrants.

They seized 32 grams of crack cocaine; 20 grams of powder cocaine and
114 grams of marijuana. Also three handguns, two assault rifles and shotgun.

TASK FORCE'S GOAL

The goal of the task force sweeps, police say, is to disrupt street
crime on the spot and to gather intelligence and develop leads that
will hopefully result in arrests that disrupt the gangs' overall operations.

In the case of the Latin Kings teenager, detectives arrested him for
a misdemeanor; but they hope he may be able to provide them insight
into other gang activities.

Tracking gangs in Miami-Dade County isn't as clear-cut as in hotbeds
such as Southern California, where traditional gangs flaunt defined
colors and affiliations. Violence with other gangs over colors or
turf tends to be less frequent here, so spotting them requires more legwork.

Here, particularly in North Miami-Dade, the gangs tend to coalesce
more for illegal activities such as drug dealing.

"It doesn't mean everybody who does street crime is in a gang," said
Miami-Dade Lt. Pablo Lima, the supervisor of the gang unit. "But most
gangs are into street crime."

Gang detectives must still branch out into narcotics, guns and even
illegal immigration. So the task force includes the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE); Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement (ICE); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF); and
the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

RIFLE CONFISCATED

On Friday night, the sun sinking into the horizon, the task force
gathered at the Miami Gardens police station. The temperature hit the
low 60s. Many criminals, it appeared, decided to stay indoors. But
the night ended up pretty busy.

At the Cloverleaf Apartments on the 600 block of 176th Street, Miami
Beach Detective Mike Muley and Miami-Dade detectives Oscar Plasencia
and Dwayne Hayes pulled up in their truck to a complex known locale
for heavy drug dealing.

In front of a first-floor building, they encountered a man in his
20s, trying to open the sliding glass door of his apartment. He was
hiding something behind his back.

Drugs, they thought. But as they drew closer, it became clear he was
hiding an assault rifle.

Muley drew his sidearm. Hayes lunged for the man.

He was arrested without resisting. The officers found their first and
most lethal score of the night: an AK-47 loaded with a banana-shaped
clip, another one taped underneath that one for quicker access to an
extra 30 rounds.

"He said he got into an argument with his ex-girlfriend and was
waiting for her friends to come get him," Muley said. "So he was
going to shoot first."