CHAPTER 63

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I had a plan, but I needed some help implementing it. First thing the next morning I phoned my friend Paul McCormick at the Memphis P.D.to ask if I could borrow a specific piece of equipment. He agreed willingly so I sent two officers to pick it up. Four hours later they had returned. "Damn, Chief—that thing looks like a piece of shit, but it drives like it's brand new."

"Yeah, that's because it is. I plan to have one of the neighbors of the Bloods park it in front of his house. Daryl and I will be inside and we'll be able to pick up a lot of audio and video that will make the case against them. Knowing how they operate I doubt it will take us even a week."

The following afternoon at 5:30 Cole Jenkins drove what appeared to be a dilapidated van up the street, parking it right in front of his house only twenty-five feet from the gang's house. There was what appeared to be an old air conditioning unit on the roof that was actually a casing for high intensity directional microphones as well as telephoto and infra-red camera lenses. Inside the van looked nothing like the outside. This was high tech to the Nth degree. The audio panel could be adjusted to pick up and record the faintest sounds or it could screen them out to record a single voice in a crowd of twenty. Video had black and white, color, infra-red, and even ultraviolet capabilities and every combination thereof.

Daryl and I were prepared for a long period of surveillance. We had large comfortable seating at the panel and the glass into the working area of the van was completely blacked out. Once we had the cameras and microphones adjusted there was no reason to turn any instrument lights on after dark.

We had a big cooler with sandwiches and water and a gallon jug with a funnel. Your imagination should tell you why we had that. I estimated that we could get out of the van daily at around 3:00 a.m. for a shower and shave at home before returning. We would take turns so the surveillance wouldn't be compromised.

These gangs are nothing if not blatant in their actions. They spoke openly about their intentions to penetrate the high school, both for drug sales and to recruit new members. They talked for more than an hour about driving there tomorrow afternoon. The four of them would stay on the sidewalk just off school grounds to avoid problems with the police.

"Yeah, right, Daryl; they'll probably be successful if they actually make it to high school."

"What do you want to do?" He laughed as I outlined my plans. I knew that I could count on Dan Powell to coordinate it perfectly. I phoned him at the station, telling him who to contact to get the vehicles we would need. They were both close friends of my father-in-law and I knew they would gladly cooperate. Both had children in high school.

I called Dan again when I saw the old tan Chevy sedan back out of the driveway. Inside were four of the thirteen gang members we had identified. The car drove the half mile to the first intersection where it turned left toward the high school campus. A large concrete truck pulled out from the curb, following closely behind them. It stayed there, actually tailgating, until a big moving van backed out of a driveway less than fifty feet in front of the sedan. The driver pulled forward almost to the truck, anticipating that it would soon turn and drive forward.

The problem was—it didn't. It stayed where it was, blocking the way forward while private vehicles blocked off the sides of the roads and the concrete truck pulled up until it had struck the rear bumper of the car. Only then did the dozen cops jump out from behind the parked cars armed with shotguns and equipped with riot gear—helmets, full face visors and bullet-resistant vests and leg pads. They swarmed to the car, pulling the four from the seats and bending them over the hood and trunk where they were searched and handcuffed. Three handguns and forty-three glassine envelopes with either capsules or white powder sealed inside. They were taken to headquarters where they were processed and jailed. Their pleas to use the phone fell on deaf ears.

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Once I knew that the drugs had been seized and the guns determined to have been stolen I knew we would have probable cause to arrest the remaining gang members. Phone calls were made to all of the neighbors at 10:30 that evening and they were evacuated either through doors or windows facing away from the gang house and escorted by police officers to school buses that were waiting to take them to motels for the evening. Everyone within three lots of the gang was removed to ensure their safety. It was almost midnight when Daryl and I climbed out the van's rear door. It felt good to stretch our legs after all those hours listening to the vile Bloods wonder aloud about their comrades.

I set up the arrest for 3:00 in the morning. Research has shown that 3:00 is the hour when people are most deeply asleep. I had thirty officers to deal with the nine Bloods remaining in the house. A dozen officers with high powered flashlights were sent to the rear of the house. There were plenty of large trees there to shelter them. Another six went to each side. The six of us remaining stayed in the front where we were behind four patrol cars. I had told Max to stay at the surveillance van where I thought he would be relatively safe, but available if needed.

Once I was sure that we were ready I called out on a squad car's megaphone: "YOU IN THE HOUSE. THIS IS THE CITY POLICE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP. WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED. COME OUT IMMEDIATELY…HANDS UP AND EMPTY!" All of the headlights and all of the flashlights went on then, bathing the house in bright blinding light.

I really will have to come up with something better to say because, like Haynes and his cadre, the Bloods responded almost immediately by shooting. Automatic rifle fire poured through the windows front and back. We stayed behind the cars while they wasted ammunition. Only when they started to hit the vehicles did we fire back. Shotguns make a booming sound in contrast to the rapid tinny sound of an AK-47. We used a combination of slugs and buckshot for almost ten minutes before I called to cease fire.