Raid Nets Jersey Police Scores of Arrests in Academy Spires

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

An early morning drug raid on the Academy Spires Housing project in Newark results in 149 arrests.
Just after 4 a.m., Newark police Police raided the Housing project after a 6 month-long investigation netted undercover police several drug buys and other criminal intelligence.

Along with the arrests came a warning from the Essex County Sheriff, Armando B. Fontoura who forewarned drug users, especially ones who traveled from outside on Route 280, that their business was was no longer welcome in the Garden Spires projects.

At the Thursday afternoon news conference, Police Director Garry McCarthy told the media "The Newark Police Department will not allow the Garden Spires to go back to what it once was" and promised that police would be patroling the project complex 24-hours a day from now on.

While appreciative of the effort to clean up the Garden Spires, which has been drug and violence infested for longer than anyone wants to admitt, some residents couldn't help but remain skeptical.

"My whole thing is they can’t arrest their way out of the problem. There needs to be alternatives to crime. The root cause of the problem," said Munirah Bomani, "is poverty." Bomani is President of the Tenant Association at the Garden Spires.

Two residents, who declined to give their names for fear of retribution from drug dealers, said city officials have promised to eradicate crime at the Garden Spires before, but police didn’t stay long enough — including after Booker camped out at the complex several years ago.

Gustavo Medina, police deputy director who oversees the gangs and narcotics bureau, said the investigation also yielded close to $50,000 worth of drugs. Booker said hundreds of thousands to a million dollars of drug money a year have passed through the Garden Spires.

The investigation was modeled after drug operations at other housing complexes, including Pennington Court and Stephen Crane Village, Booker said. He said officers continue to patrol those locations regularly.

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