HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) – The hierarchy of the Latin Kings gang in Suffolk County, including its first supreme crown, was arrested and $1.2 million worth of drugs was seized in a devastating blow to tightly structured street thugs, law enforcers said Wednesday.

A 10-month investigation resulted in the arrests of 22 Latin Kings members and associates on various charges, mostly for the illegal sale of drugs, during a July 7 raid on more than a dozen residences in the Brentwood-Islip area.

, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

A copy of the Latin Kings bible, a 200-page black loose-leaf book, was confiscated in a member’s house, providing investigators with the code of conduct of the 63-year-old nationwide Hispanic organized crime group, Spota said.

Investigators said numerous weapons also were seized.

“I think this has significantly dismantled the Suffolk County chapter of this gang,” Spota said.

The joint investigation by the police narcotics squad and the district attorney’s office began last summer after the gang’s No. 2 crown was arrested on charges of trafficking marijuana, authorities said.

The probe, concentrated in southwest Suffolk, culminated in the arrests of three gang leaders, including George Carrion, 34, of Brentwood, identified as the first supreme crown, or head of the local chapter, prosecutors said.

Carrion was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and burglary and was being held on $1 million bail. He would face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

His court-appointed lawyer, Tarsha Smith, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

The other two gang leaders and 19 members or associates also were charged with illegal sale of drugs and burglary and were being held on bail, prosecutors said.

Police were seeking four others.

The Almighty Latin King Nation started in Chicago in 1942 and became established in New York about 40 years ago.

The gang, which has become a growing problem in Suffolk County and has been known to recruit elementary school children, is primarily in the drug dealing business, Spota said.

The gangsters, however, are forbidden by the code of conduct outlined in their bible from using drugs – or from being gay, gambling or disrespecting a fellow gangster’s girlfriend.

AP-ES-07-20-05 1703EDT

Copy the Story Link