The organization operates near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Mosher Street, moving an estimated street value of $20,000 worth of heroin per day, according to the affidavit. Owens is the suspected leader, officials said.
A day after the "Ray Charles" raids and across town, on the first block of South Regester St. in Baltimore yesterday morning, officers were locked in an hours-long standoff when a suspect in the second investigation jumped out of his third-floor window and broke into an occupied home on South Ann Street. SWAT team members and federal authorities surrounded the home until the man surrendered.
"This house was under surveillance for a very long time," said Edward A. Marcinko Jr., a special agent and spokesman for the Baltimore district of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for both Mayor Sheila Dixon and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, said the raid was part of a concerted effort by city police to work with other law enforcement agencies to go after the most dangerous offenders. Clifford identified Owens as a "dirty dozen" target, along with Johnnie "JR" Butler, 32, who was arrested in yesterday morning's raid.
Also arrested yesterday were Calvin "Turkey" Wright, 38; Walter Horton; Daron Ashe; Adrian Aulton; Geraldmain Wilkerson; Antoine Boston; Leon Wilkerson and Shawn Moore. Police were still looking for a 10th suspect in that case, Akeem "Whitelock Cuzo" Yarberough, as of yesterday.
Court documents offered no details on the investigation or how the charges were determined.
Both Wright and Butler were federally charged in Baltimore in 2006 with possession and intent to distribute heroin after officers seized two kilos of heroin worth roughly $200,000 wholesale and found a 2002 Mercedes with $75,000 inside. The charges against them were dropped, though a third defendant was sentenced to 240 months in the case.
A key component of the EXILE program is that cases are federally prosecuted. Federal sentences are often longer than those administered at the state level, and there is no parole or probation at the federal level, Clifford said.
It also allows prisoners to be sent to far-flung federal prisons, away from friends, family and other criminals. The U.S. attorney's office has increased the number of EXILE cases it takes this year by about a third, Clifford said. Working with federal authorities has helped Baltimore police go after alleged criminal ringleaders, including members of the "dirty dozen," Bealefeld said.
"What is much more difficult [than standard arrests] is to set your sights on a particular guy for a very specific reason to try to impact very specific violences," Bealefeld said. "And in these cases, I think we've accomplished that. We still have some people to round up and some targets to get, but the potential impact of taking these organizations off [the streets] are huge to Baltimore."
Sun reporters Gus G. Sentementes, Justin Fenton and Melissa Harris contributed to this article.
