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Her arrest is part of a large scale drug investigation involving both local, state, and federal law enforcement.
Actress Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, who played a drug dealer and assassin on HBO's The Wire, was arrested along with more than 60 others in a pre-dawn drug raid Thursday in Baltimore. Her arrest was part of a large scale, five-month drug investigation -- reportedly involving a large-scale heroin and marijuana operation -- that was conducted by local, state, and federal law enforcement, according to the Balitmore Sun.
Local television showed video of Pearson being led by DEA agents from an apartment building downtown to a waiting police van. Police declined to say what charges she faces.
In her 2007 memoir, Grace After Midnight, Pearson -- now 30 -- wrote of being born to a drug-addicted mother and then selling drugs herself. At 14, she killed another teenager and served time in Jessup State Penitentiary for murder, according to the memori.
After her release from prison, she met an actor from The Wire cast in a club and joined the show until it ended in 2008.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- http://egolost.com "I am already given to the power that rules my fate. And I cling to nothing, so I will have nothing to defend. I have no thoughts, so I will see. I fear nothing, so I will remember myself."
More than 60 people, including 'Snoop'
of 'The Wire,' arrested in drug
raids
March 10, 2011 - Baltimore Sun
Arrests in operation 'Usual Suspects'
are culmination of 5-month
investigation
After hundreds of local and federal police fanned out across Baltimore
at dawn yesterday, hauling suspects out of homes and off the streets,
authorities announced at day's end that they had shut down one of the
city's major sources of illicit drugs and violence.
In all, they charged 63 suspects with federal and state drug conspiracy
counts — among them Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, whose arrest on
heroin-related and aiding and abetting charges echoed the street
lifestyle she portrayed as a character in HBO's series "The Wire" and
sought to overcome in her personal life.
Though her role in the conspiracy was said to be relatively small, her
arrest at a downtown high-rise brought increased visibility to a case
officials believe will strike a blow to a major drug operation. Dubbed
Operation Usual Suspects, the case targeted repeat offenders who
authorities say might be responsible for recent violence emanating from
their base in East Baltimore.
"Our goal was to totally dismantle this organization from head to toe
and everything in between," said Carl J. Kotowski, the Drug Enforcement
Administration's assistant special agent in charge, as hundreds of
officers assembled before dawn at M&T Bank Stadium to prepare for
the raids.
The arrests were the culmination of an intensive five-month
investigation by the DEA and Baltimore police, acting on intelligence
that started flowing in about the Latrobe Homes-based organization in
2008, authorities said at an afternoon news conference.
A federal indictment against 15 suspects says they had ties to New York
and California, and alleges that conspirators "would engage in acts of
violence against members of the conspiracy who failed to perform
required tasks."
"This is truly a heavy-lifting case that goes back to 2008," said
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. "It should be
a reminder to every bad guy in the city that we have a pretty good team
coming to get you."
Officials declined to elaborate on what they termed one of the largest
cases to be brought in the city.
The DEA invited two reporters to accompany officers carrying out raids
on warrants issued at the state level. About 450 officers from various
law enforcement agencies met before 4:30 a.m. at the Baltimore Ravens'
stadium, gathering in groups of eight to 10 before heading out to
execute search warrants in a persistent rain.
Sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle seized earlier from drug
dealers, Kotowski explained the planning involved in the far-reaching
operation. As he spoke, a car being driven by agents pulled ahead at
intersections, flashing emergency lights to block traffic.
"SWAT's already hit one [location]," Kotowski said. "They wanted to do
it for safety. It was a high risk, and the earlier, the better."
DEA agent Edward Marcinko, also the agency's spokesman, drove through
the early morning stillness of a business district along West Baltimore
Street, then to the 1200 block of W. Lombard St., where he pulled into
an alley.
Baltimore police and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms took positions around the front and back of a home, guns
drawn, and waited for a sign. In an instant, officers had forced open
the front door, and flashlights could be seen flickering near the back
upstairs window.
Inside, officials say, they found the man they were searching for. He
was wearing turquoise pajama pants and sitting on the floor of the
home, which was apparently being remodeled, as evidenced by a makeshift
table on paint cans and power tools. A young woman sat beside him, near
a new stainless-steel refrigerator. The front door was damaged, the
front steps covered with glass from the broken double-pane window.
Neighbors stuck their heads out of windows and into the rain, trying to
figure out what was going on.
"All I heard was pounding, and, 'Kick it in, kick it in, get it in!'"
said Priscilla Reed, 47. "We opened the door and they were like, 'Close
the door back!' and we saw them in the street with guns."
From there, agents drove to The Redwood apartment building on South
Eutaw Street, where just before 7 a.m., Pearson was taken into custody.
Kotowski said he and Pearson chatted briefly.
"I asked, 'What are you doing now?' She said, 'I'm an actress,'"
Kotowski said. "We're lucky. She just got back from Michigan, or
Minnesota, where she was doing something else. If we came a few days
earlier, we would have missed her."
Pearson looked downward as she was led out of the apartment building
and into a police van.
Previously, she spent six years at the Maryland Correctional
Institution for Women in Jessup for fatally shooting a girl at age 14.
In 2005, she was arrested after failing to cooperate in a trial in a
killing she witnessed on The Block, Baltimore's red-light district.
While serving the warrant, police found a small amount of marijuana in
her home and charged her with drug possession — a charge of which she
was later acquitted. After she vowed to invoke her Fifth Amendment
right not to testify, prosecutors offered the murder suspect, Steven
James Lashley, a plea deal, with a 30-year sentence and half the term
suspended.
And while she has not appeared in an acting role since "The Wire" ended
its run in 2008, she secured a role in a movie called "Criminal Empire
for Dummies," with a cast that includes Gary Oldman and Harvey Keitel,
set to be released this year.
Also charged in the federal indictment and taken into custody Thursday
is Gerard Mungo, father of the young boy arrested for sitting on a dirt
bike in 2007. Then-Mayor Sheila Dixon apologized to the family at the
time. The elder Mungo faced first-degree murder charges last year,
which were dropped by city prosecutors in June, court records show.
By daybreak, officers were finishing up at another target, a house in
the 1600 block of N. Regester St. in East Baltimore. There, in a strip
of mostly vacant properties north of Johns Hopkins Hospital, officers
led Tabitha Williams and Donovan Sterling out in handcuffs, with a blue
sweat shirt over Williams' head.
"Bye, baby," she told Sterling as they were separated.
"All right," he muttered. To the officers, he said, "Make sure my house
gets secured up."
Some of those indicted remained at large Thursday night, authorities
said.
Officers executing 40 search warrants confiscated four guns, 5 pounds
of marijuana and 5 grams of raw heroin, according to Bealefeld.
"I'm confident we've made a section of Baltimore much safer," the
commissioner said.
Quote: Humility said: Officers executing 40 search warrants confiscated four guns, 5 pounds of marijuana and 5 grams of raw heroin, according to Bealefeld.
40 search warrants, 63 suspects and only 5 pounds of bud and 5 GRAMS (what, 2500-5000 depending on %cut?) of heroin?
I wonder how the charges go, like if they can charge everyone with possessing all the drugs there lol.
Seems kind of paltry.
Paltry would be a compliment. What a joke.
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They are claiming its a conspiracy so they will come down with RICO charges. Could be looking at serious time (15+ to life) if the prosecution can prove the case and wants to be a dick.
I really want to know if they caught her with a wire tap. Would be way more ironic than rain on your wedding day.
Rico doesn't fall under organized drug gang for 5lbs and 5 grams of heroin. There is no rico. Their "ties" are probably sending each other weed in the mail.
No, she wasn't. That was one of the best things about her character. She wasn't an actress hired to play a role but an actual former drug dealer in the game from the streets of Baltimore.
The Wire was definitely one of the best TV series I've seen.
Quote: veggie said: No, she wasn't. That was one of the best things about her character. She wasn't an actress hired to play a role but an actual former drug dealer in the game from the streets of Baltimore.
The Wire was definitely one best TV series I've seen.
I just finished watching it again just a few days ago (by "it" I mean the entire series).
The last time I saw it I was 16 or so. It's definitely a much different watch at this age. It is beautifully done and shows so many minute elements of street life that it's highly commendable.
One of the most high quality series that's ever been made, ever. I challenge someone to name a series that was better put-together.
I love Weeds and Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad but they are soap operas, dramas, compared to The Wire. It's as close to a documentary as you'd ever get.
Quote: veggie said: No, she wasn't. That was one of the best things about her character. She wasn't an actress hired to play a role but an actual former drug dealer in the game from the streets of Baltimore.
The Wire was definitely one best TV series I've seen.
I just finished watching it again just a few days ago (by "it" I mean the entire series).
The last time I saw it I was 16 or so. It's definitely a much different watch at this age. It is beautifully done and shows so many minute elements of street life that it's highly commendable.
One of the most high quality series that's ever been made, ever. I challenge someone to name a series that was better put-together.
I love Weeds and Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad but they are soap operas, dramas, compared to The Wire. It's as close to a documentary as you'd ever get.
I am intrigued. Going to check this show out when I can.
Quote: Humility said: The last time I saw it I was 16 or so. It's definitely a much different watch at this age. It is beautifully done and shows so many minute elements of street life that it's highly commendable.
One of the most high quality series that's ever been made, ever. I challenge someone to name a series that was better put-together.
I love Weeds and Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad but they are soap operas, dramas, compared to The Wire. It's as close to a documentary as you'd ever get.
I feel you there. For me The Wire set a high-water mark that I can't even imagine anything else surpassing. The characters, their development, the different angles each season takes...it's just fucking beautiful! The producers were clearly motivated to tell a story that was very close to their hearts and that they knew expertly. I really liked the balanced perspective they give on the characters too. Nobody is an absolute villain (Marlo does come close), but none of them are saints either. The story is told through the characters and it adds a deep human element to it...I can't think of any other TV show, movie, or anything else that did such an amazing job in this regard.
It also gives such a expansive view of street life and culture. It's a whole world that so many of us really don't much understand. The dialogue alone is endlessly engrossing. In that sense it's also like taking a really good sociology class.
Fuck yeah. I'm gonna have to start watching it again.
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im a late bloomer, dont really buy into tv shows that just come out, I wait for a while and watch them. finally catching The WIRE. It was better than I expected it to be..
btw I just seen Frank Zappa on Miami Vice.. better late than never.