NIAGARA FALLS: Cops bag two crack dealers

Man selling “mad dope” in the North End among the suspects

<!--Rick Pfeiffer--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Rick Pfeiffer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com">rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>

Falls narcotics detectives say they’ve taken a bite out of the Cataract City’s crack cocaine trade with a pair of busts on Wednesday.

Early Wednesday evening, detectives swooped down on the parking lot of a convenience store at 11th Street and Cleveland Avenue to pop Reggie Walker. They executed a search warrant on Walker and his truck and found a quarter ounce of crack in a vacuum-sealed pill bottle.

The officers were armed with a 12-count indictment handed down Tuesday by a Niagara County grand jury that targeted Walker as a major North End drug dealer.

“We’ve been working on him for the past several months,” Narcotics Division Capt. Morris Shamrock said. “Word on the street was that he was ‘selling mad dope in the north towns.’ ”

Detective Jay Reynolds said complaints and street sources first focused attention on Walker.

“We had several complaints when we started looking at him about four months ago,” Reynolds said. “The word was that he was operating out of the Elks Club on Highland Avenue.”

Walker, 46, 1324 Darden Ave., was charged with third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substances in connection with his parking lot arrest. He also faces eight counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and four counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance as a result of the grand jury action.

The grand jury charges stemmed from crack cocaine buys made from Walker by undercover officers.

Earlier in the day, at 5:15 a.m., detectives and members of the Emergency Response Team raided a home at 442 Seventh St. and took Andre Graham into custody.

“The ERT had to break through two barricaded doors and then they were confronted with (three) pit bulls,” Shamrock said. “But they got felony weight crack off (Graham).”

One ERT member was injured in the raid and treated at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center for a minor injury.

Detectives Steve Reed and Shawn Larrabee led the Graham investigation.

“There was constant foot traffic in and out of that house at all hours of the day and night,” Larrabee said. “We got lots of phone calls about him.”

Inside Graham’s home, detectives found a significant quantity of crack cocaine, a digital scale, a small quantity of marijuana and several weapons. Investigators seized load .22 caliber and .44 caliber handguns and a high powered rifle with ammunition that could penetrate police vests.

Graham, 25, 442 Seventh St., Apt. 2, pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in Falls City Court to charges of third- and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana. He was released from custody on a $10,000 bail bond and is due back in court Sept. 30 with an attorney.

Text Only | Photo Reprints