Law Agencies Differ on Credit for Big Drug Bust

So much cocaine was found in a Sylmar warehouse raided 10 days ago that each Angeleno could have had a three-month supply. But what the world’s biggest drug bust could not provide is enough credit to go around to all the law enforcement agencies that took part in it.

The chiefs of five small police departments--Arcadia, Bell, Huntington Park, Maywood and South Gate--whose officers, along with two Drug Enforcement Administration agents, did all of the surveillance work leading to the warehouse raid, say their departments have been eclipsed by a media star: Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

What the chiefs feel is at stake is the divvying up of about $12.4 million in cash that was found along with the 19 tons of cocaine in the Sylmar warehouse. Gates has rankled his colleagues from smaller departments by getting more media attention and stating that his department may be in for a $2-million cut of the cash.

The five police chiefs of the smaller cities beg to differ. At a recent meeting, they agreed that the LAPD’s contribution to the seizure was about equal to that of a narcotics dog named Dandy who was used to sniff out some of the evidence.

‘With That Comes the Money’

“We feel that those cities that were actually responsible should get the credit, and along with that comes the money,� Bell Police Chief Manuel Ortega said Saturday. “LAPD will get a share but certainly not the $2 million that Chief Gates spoke of.�

LAPD spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said Gates’ $2-million remark was made off the cuff when he spoke before the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday and that the city will abide by the formula the federal government uses for dividing cash seizures.

Booth also said Gates is not responsible for who the media chooses to quote or film and that the chief has not meant to slight the smaller departments. And repeatedly since the bust, Gates has praised the smaller departments and called the raid a successful example of interagency cooperation.

Trouble is, the media hasn’t always picked up on that part of Gates’ statements.

The five police chiefs put their frustrations into a letter that was sent to local media outlets late last week. The letter hurled a few barbs at the Los Angeles chief and his larger department and chided newspapers and television stations for not recognizing the smaller departments’ contributions to the case.

“Representatives from the media chose to ignore the fact that members of (the five departments) in conjunction with federal authorities, did all the work,� the chiefs wrote. “You can be assured that it was not the Los Angeles Police Department.

“With all due respect to Chief of Police Daryl Gates and the members of the Los Angeles Police Department, their only involvement was support,� they wrote.

Acted on a Tip

The historic drug seizure occurred Sept. 28 after a two-day investigation. Acting on a tip from an unidentified caller, two federal DEA agents checked out the warehouse on Bradley Street in Sylmar.

The agents called on the Quad City Task Force, a team of 10 narcotics detectives from Bell, Huntington Park, Maywood and South Gate who specialize in truck transport investigations. Members of the task force, along with the agents and an officer on loan to the DEA from Arcadia, then began to spy on the warehouse.

Soon afterward, the officers took an empty cardboard box they found outside the warehouse to a Monrovia Police Department dog who sniffed it and “went berserk,� detecting traces of cocaine, an investigator said.

The task force later stopped a car that had left the warehouse and found 30 kilos of cocaine, evidence that allowed them to search the warehouse.

Courtesy Call

Only then was the LAPD called--and only because of courtesy since the warehouse was in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles department then provided a back-up narcotics team, a bomb squad to check for explosive devices and a SWAT team to help guard the warehouse while the task force worked inside.

As dozens of reporters and cameramen later crowded into a press conference in the warehouse, the police chiefs or their representatives from the five small departments each spoke ahead of Gates. John Zienter, special agent in charge of the DEA office in Los Angeles, and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner were also among those who spoke.

Naturally, said Bell’s Chief Ortega, the media gravitated toward the more recognizable figures. “I think they went to Chief Gates because he is the visible person that he is,� he said.

Members of the task force that made the bust--and continued around-the-clock follow-up investigations--were left nearly as anonymous as the tipster who set the investigation in motion. One detective sarcastically referred to the ongoing investigation as “Operation Gates.�

“It is a classic case of the underdog winning but the underdog--the little guy--is going unnoticed,� said another investigator. “We put our tails on the line and Daryl gets all the credit.�

An editorial cartoon in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner further inflamed the investigators and their chiefs, Ortega said. The cartoon showed three mountains and compared Edward Whymper’s scaling of the Matterhorn and Sir Edmund Hillary’s scaling of Mt. Everest with the “LAPD Sylmar Cocaine Bust.�

The last straw was when Gates appeared before the City Council and predicted a $2-million windfall for his department.

“It began to rankle a bit,� Ortega said. “We felt that our contributions were being overlooked.�

Nationwide, it may have been Gates’ statements that appeared on the front page of the Washington Post and Reiner who was quoted in the New York Times, but within the ranks of police departments, word is spreading that credit is due to the underdogs.

As if to put that on the record, a small group of officers and federal agents gathered in a park next to the Huntington Park police station last week for an official “World’s Biggest Bust� photograph to be published in a California Narcotics Officers Assn. magazine.

They all smiled when the camera clicked. And there were no Los Angeles police officers in the picture.