Morningside Heights Drug Gang Caught

A gang of teenagers and young adults calling themselves "Money Comes First" were arrested yesterday and charged with a variety of drug-related crimes, including selling crack and marijuana, police said.

The gang based its operations in the Grant Houses, a massive public housing complex at Morningside Heights, authorities said.

The arrests came after police spent nearly a year conducting an investigation dubbed "Operation Tombstone," named after the popular Western movie that the leading case agent - Detective Rafael Diaz Jr., of the Manhattan Gang Investigation Unit - was watching at the time the probe began.

Last summer, police received complaints from residents at the Grant Houses about gunshots. While major crimes are down throughout the city, Detective Diaz and other law enforcement officials said incidents of gun shootings and firearms arrests have increased in Upper Manhattan over the past year.

"Operation Tombstone" entailed undercover detectives making 27 drug buys, police said.

The buyers found that the alleged gang, which later changed its name to "M-" had spray painted their symbol throughout the 4,700-apartment housing complex.

The gang's tag was so pervasive throughout the Grant Houses that one suspect spray-painted the symbol all over the back of his bedroom door.

While police believe the gang members are linked to other shootings and violent robberies, prosecutors said they were only charged with drug-related and conspiracy crimes yesterday. A police search of the apartments of suspected gang members found no weapons. Police did recover between $500 and $600 in cash.

Attorneys for the alleged gang members were not immediately available for comment.

"These guys caused a lot of havoc," said Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney who faces re-election this year. "Hopefully now, there'll be some peace and quiet."

The case is personal, Mr. Morgenthau said, because the alleged drug dealing gang was conducting some business in the yard of his former elementary school, Ralph Bunche, at West 123rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue.