Police on Monday afternoon raided three houses they believed were bases for drug-dealing gang members, netting cocaine totaling 36 grams, or a little more than an ounce, two guns and $31,748.
After 26 police officers and agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms gathered to discuss strategy, they fanned out in two caravans to carry out search warrants.
At 426 Woodlawn Ave., police arrested Ramon R. Rivera, 34, after they said they found 22 grams of cocaine, a loaded 9 mm handgun, $1,550 and two drug-weighing scales. He was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.
Rivera was being held at the police lockup pending a bond hearing Thursday morning. Neighbors of Rivera expressed surprise about the raid and its results.
“He seemed real nice to me, and he knows my mom real well,” said Hector Alara, who was at his mother’s house, two doors away. “He always treated her real nice and treated her with respect.”
But Alara acknowledged that the neighborhood is troubled, saying there have been recent incidents involving shootings, stabbings and pipe bomb explosions.
Police and agents descended on two near east side houses, at 250 Jefferson St. and 208 High St.
At 208 High St., police confiscated 14 grams of cocaine and $30,198 in cash, and at 250 Jefferson St., they confiscated a .44-caliber handgun.
Police said they were seeking arrest warrants in connection with those confiscations.
