Widening Violence

Authorities Believe Spiral Began With 2 Catonsville Brothers' Kidnappings

Dixon Criticizes Slow Pace Of Federal Investigation

The abduction of two Catonsville brothers last year - which police believe triggered a wave of retaliatory killings and other violence, including the shootings of 12 people at a cookout Sunday - was orchestrated by members of a heroin organization who believed their supplier was cheating them, authorities allege in court documents reviewed by The Baltimore Sun.

The documents, filed in U.S. District Court last month, shed new light on last year's kidnappings, which prompted an Amber Alert for the teens but was quietly resolved without criminal charges. The documents claim that the reputed heroin supplier, Steven "J.R." Blackwell Jr., 25, paid $500,000 to free his younger brothers. The documents also link additional deaths to last year's string of violence that have not previously been publicly connected.

In the wake of the cookout shooting, in which Blackwell was wounded along with a pregnant woman and a 2-year-old girl, city police are now exploring possible links to a slew of crimes committed over the past two months in the McElderry Park and Madison-East End neighborhoods, including four homicides and 11 nonfatal shootings, according to law enforcement sources.

The court documents also suggest, however, that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and city police knew more than a year ago what was driving the violence, arresting two key members after acting on tips from a confidential informant. On Monday, both Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III and Mayor Sheila Dixon expressed frustration that the investigation apparently stalled.

Dixon noted on Wednesday that the federal investigation had been going on for two years.

"They've got to step up," she said. "The weight can't just be on our police."

The documents draw a connection between the April 2008 kidnappings of Blackwell's younger brothers and a string of apparently retaliatory acts. Authorities believe the abduction was carried out by Terrell Allen, 35, Omar Spriggs, 27, and Demetrious Rich, 29, all of Baltimore.

Six weeks later, authorities say, gunmen took revenge with a quadruple shooting outside the Allen & Family Appliance store, a mom-and-pop business that sells $99 washing machines and other discount appliances. Spriggs and Allen's father, Tony Allen, 52, were killed. Terrell Allen was one of two men injured.