TRIAL EYES CITY ORGANIZED CRIME

In his opening statement Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J.
Heaphy avoided the word "gang" to describe the group of men charged
with racketeering and accused of running a narcotics ring.

Instead, he used the words "organization," "group" and "enterprise."

In some ways, the prosecutor made the ring sound more like the mob.

"In this community, ladies and gentlemen, we have organized crime,"
Heaphy told the panel. "In the course of this trial, you're going to
see a different part of this community."

The RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act,
which allows federal prosecutors to charge individuals with
committing illegal acts to further a criminal enterprise, was
established in an effort to crack down on the Mafia. This is believed
to be Charlottesville's first RICO trial.

Heaphy referred to 28-year-old Louis Antonio Bryant - charged with
being the leader of a group called Project Crud, PJC or the Westside
Crew - as "the boss," and the most fearless and violent member.

Bryant's uncle, John Darrelle Bryant, Claiborne Lemar Maupin and
Terrance Suggs are codefendants in the racketeering trial expected to
last through November and possibly into December.

There are two killings and numerous shootings the government
attributes to the group, including a drive-by shooting in which a
nurse was caught in the crossfire on her way home from work.

Heaphy promised that physical evidence, such as bullets, letters,
telephone records and financial statements, will corroborate
testimony from what he called "the spine" of the case: insider witnesses.

Testimony from former codefendants should be viewed with skepticism,
defense attorneys warned jurors, because they are only out to save
their own skin.

Jonathan L. Katz, an attorney from Silver Spring, Md., hired to
represent Louis Bryant, called the prosecution's case "a fantasy"
that hangs on the testimony of unreliable snitches.

"I'm angry," Katz said in his impassioned opening. "This man does not
belong here. But he is here and I'm what comes between him and injustice."

One of Bryant's closest friends and former codefendant, Detric
"D-Dott" Cabell, was the first witness-cooperator to testify. He
identified photos of tattoos on his arms that marked him as a member
of PJC or the Westside Crew, including the image of a hand shaped
into a "W," and the letters "PJC" written under the image of public
housing and the signs for 10th and Page streets.

While the community has been divided on the use of the term "gang,"
Heaphy steered away from such language and instead focused on the
acts he said were committed by those who were part of a large
drug-dealing business in the 10th and Page neighborhood, near the
Westhaven public housing complex.

Some city residents complain that clusters of young black men have
been wrongly identified as gangs. They say "Project Crud" was a rap
group back in the day, started by some boys who were raised in the projects.

Heaphy acknowledged that some of the men caught in the racketeering
net knew each other from growing up in the same neighborhood on the
west side of town.

Resulting territorial mentality that started out as schoolyard
fistfights led to more violent "beefs," or arguments, between the
"Westside Crew" and residents of other parts of the city, including
Prospect Avenue and Garrett Square, Heaphy said.

The organization established a pattern of violence, Heaphy said,
partly because of the neighborhood conflicts and also due to threats
to the enterprise, both real and perceived. The resulting crime
spree, he said, is racketeering.

Heaphy said the violence and drug deals made it possible for Bryant
to purchase expensive cars and were referenced in Bryant's legitimate
business: his rap music.

Heaphy called Bryant's lyrics a confession. Katz called it poetry.
Jurors were introduced to a snippet of Bryant's music in Heaphy's
opening and have been promised more as the trial continues.

Testimony will resume today.