Dragnet and dog: A police story
A small white poodle helped police nab an alleged drug-dealing member of the Gangsta Killer Bloods Friday morning during a police dragnet.
The suspect -- Hassan Richardson, 25 -- was one of two alleged associates or members of the gang taken into custody Friday.
Another suspect, Sheila "Happy" Pinkston, 30, was also taken into custody. Five more suspects were being sought. Another suspect, already in jail, will face new charges.
The roundup was part of an ongoing FBI-Columbia Police-Richland sheriff's investigation into the Gangsta Killer Bloods, which federal officials have described in court as a major cocaine distribution group in Columbia.
The Gangsta Killer Bloods have ties to the United Blood Nation, a major East Coast gang. Federal officials say the Gangsta Killer Bloods have operated a thriving cocaine and crack cocaine business in numerous Columbia neighborhoods for years. The gang has been the focus of a federal and local law enforcement investigation that has involved hundreds of hours of court-approved wiretaps of gang members' cell phones.
After a team of eight plainclothes and uniformed Sheriff's Department officers surrounded a one-story, pine-shrouded house in the 300 block of Green Springs Drive in Northeast Richland, Larry Sypolt, a member of both the FBI Violent Gangs Task Force and the Richland County Sheriff's Department, knocked on the front door. No one answered.
But the poodle inside, looking out of a window, kept barking and turning around to look back. That let Sypolt know someone -- probably Richardson -- was inside.
Ten minutes later, the front door opened suddenly. Richardson, apparently having realized his poodle had betrayed him, stood there. An officer ordered him to the floor. Richardson obeyed and immediately was handcuffed.
"Had that dog not been there, we might have left," said Sypolt. "His poodle gave him away."
Sypolt spoke after his team -- one of three federal and local task forces that fanned out across Columbia Friday -- arrested Richardson. The alleged Gangsta Killer Bloods member is charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Elsewhere in the Columbia area, two other teams -- one from the FBI, the other from the Columbia Police -- surrounded houses where suspected drug-dealing gang members or associates lived.
The Columbia Police team -- made up of six officers sporting Oakley sunglasses and .45-caliber semi-automatic pistols -- spent the morning hunting two alleged gang members while listening to classic rock 'n' roll.
The team cruised the Gonzalez Gardens apartment complex, looking for two alleged gang members. They didn't find the suspects.
However, while The Who's Roger Daltrey sang "No one knows what it's like to be the bad man," officers spotted two men with crack cocaine and another man wanted on armed robbery charges. All three were arrested.
"I could do this all day," one officer commented on finding a suspect with an outstanding warrant.
The FBI team, authorities said, used a battering ram to smash in the door of a dwelling allegedly used by gang associate Carlos "Ghost" Long, 20. The FBI was searching for evidence to use against Long, already in custody in the Lexington County jail. Long has a tattoo reading, "Gansta Killa," according to jail records.
The dragnet started at about 10 a.m., when the three sets of police teams met in different locations.
Sypolt's plainclothes Sheriff's Department team, driving nondescript pickup trucks and SUVs, gathered in a remote corner of the enormous Village at Sandhill parking lot. He briefed the officers on their targets and how the houses would be approached, and told them uniformed units would be on the scene, providing perimeter security.
At 10:27 a.m., the officers donned black bulletproof vests and grabbed their Glock semi-automatic pistols and Taser electric stun guns.
In the next three hours, they arrested Richardson but missed two other subjects who face the same charges -- Martin "Monk Man" Dwyer, 26, and Rashawn Wallace, 30.
Authorities said they still are seeking Dwyer, Wallace and three other suspects.
This story was originally published April 21, 2007 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Dragnet and dog: A police story."