Detroit group was in charge

Charges were dropped against one person from New Castle.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The "Detroit Boys" held power over low-level drug dealers and users through fear and intimidation, according to testimony given at a preliminary hearing for nine of the 28 people charged last month by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office.
"They wanted control of my house, so they could control the crack because it was a good business built by [one of the accused]," said Joseph E. Farrell III. Farrell testified Friday he was operating a competing crack house, and the "Detroit Boys" wanted to move in after their main drug house, dubbed The Clubhouse, burned in April 2005.
"There were guns pulled on me," Farrell said. "I was also threatened to have my head cut off if I didn't let them sell out of my house."
Farrell let the gang into his Waldo Street home, which was used as one of several crack houses used by those from Detroit, until New Castle police closed it down June 15, 2005.
Nine of the 13 suspects arrested so far as part of the massive Feb. 24 drug sweep were in Lawrence County Central Court for a preliminary hearing, which lasted more than five hours.
Only two of those arrested -- Frenzado Snow, 27, who uses the street name "Kill," of Detroit, and Tytee Mitchell, 28, known as "T-Rod," of Detroit -- have been released on bail. The rest remain in jail.
Dismissed charges
Charges against Duane Evans, 23, of Sankey Street, New Castle, known as "Tank," were dismissed after none of the eight prosecution witnesses could identify him or name him in any of the drug activities.
Several charges against Mitchell, including conspiracy, corrupt organizations charges and some drug charges, also were dismissed. He still faces charges of possession of a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance.
All the charges against the other defendants were held for trial in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court by District Justice Melissa Amodie.
Agents from the attorney general's office and local and state police testified they infiltrated the gang with a series of controlled drug buys by confidential informants.
And drug users from New Castle testified that the Detroit gang paid them in drugs to be lookouts, sell drugs and even clean the drug houses.
Farrell and two others identified James Brooks, 39, of Detroit, known on the streets as "O-Z," appeared to be the head of the organization giving orders to those under him.
Dana Domenick of New Castle testified she got hooked on crack cocaine three years ago and moved into The Clubhouse. To support her drug habit, Domenick said she was fronted drugs and told to sell them. Others inside the organization were instructed to watch her as she sold drugs out of the crack house, she said.
"We were threatened. People were told to do this or that," she said. "If I ever talked to the police, I was told they'd find me in a ditch." Domenick said she was even beaten by one of the gang members.
Domenick said she eventually moved to Farrell's house and then to another crack house on Superior Street. When police closed the last house, she moved to a series of hotels in New Castle and Hermitage with other drug addicts until moving back with her family five months ago, she said.
Another witness
Jamie Leigh Gilmore, also of New Castle, testified she was paid in crack to watch the door at The Clubhouse. She would also drive drug dealers around for crack.
"I lived on the streets for the past two years, going from crack house to crack house just like the rest of the crackheads in New Castle," she said.
Gilmore said she was also choked and kicked by gang members.
Those whose charges were held for court included Snow; Mitchell; Brooks; Ronald Book, 40, of Waldo Street, New Castle, known as "One Arm Ron"; Dorothy Ortiz, 37, of Laurel Boulevard, New Castle; Terry Griffith, 37, of 209 N. Mercer St., New Castle; Benny Tabb, 20, of Detroit, known as "Money"; and Malkia Brown, 28, of Cleveland Avenue, New Castle.
cioffi@vindy.com