“I’ve been preaching to [the ADAs] for months, get your caseloads cleared,” said Carnright. “Because a flood is coming.”
In the dead of night
The floodgates opened on March 31 when hundreds of law enforcement personnel assembled for the final act in operation Clean Sweep. At the Ulster County Jail, staff had already cleared out A-Pod, a housing unit for prisoners ages 16 to 20. The youths were shifted to dormitory housing in another section of the jail while their former cells were prepared for the deluge of new arrivals. More Corrections Officers set up a booking station at KPD headquarters onGarraghan Drive where barricades were set up to control movement in and out. Fourteen raid teams of about 12 cops each set out with detailed information on their targets. Scout teams had been busy all evening keeping tabs on suspects and keeping the raid teams apprised of their whereabouts and companions. The raid was designed to move a mass of suspects quickly from the arrest site to Garraghan Drive for booking and over to the Ulster County Jail where corrections staff had already assigned cells to each of the raid targets.
The raids commenced simultaneously at 4 a.m. and within a few hours, police had hauled in 76 people, including all but 14 of those named in the 86 sealed indictments. All but eight of the targets were busted in the City of Kingston. KPD Chief Egidio Tinti called the raid’s execution a “work of art” attested to by the fact that there were no injuries and virtually no resistance.
“I think one guy ran out a back door, but they were right there waiting for him,” said Paulding holding out his hands mimicking a gun.
The final haul, police said, included 36 members of the Bloods, two alleged Crips and three members of Blackout, a local gang with a reputation for violent robberies. The raid teams also turned a .25-caliber pistol at a target’s Saugerties residence and small amounts of cocaine, crack, marijuana, Ecstasy and prescription narcotics.
Arraignments on Monday
On Monday, April 2 the action shifted to the Ulster County Courthouse where all 86 indictments were unsealed and their targets arraigned in a marathon session before County Court Judge Don Williams. The courtroom and the hallways outside were packed with friends and family members of the accused as sheriff’s deputies brought in defendants in batches of 16 from the jail. The proceedings moved in an assembly-line fashion with each arraignment lasting about five minutes. During the course of an hour and 15 minutes on Monday, Williams presided over the arraignment of 15 defendants, providing a snapshot of the charges, and the targets, of Operation Clean Sweep.
The defendants were brought one at a time into court, shackled at the hands and feet in baggy orange jail-issue jumpsuits. They ranged in age from 16-year-old Orion McCleod to 54-year-old Billy Montgomery. Some, like McCleod, had sparse criminal histories. Most, however, had prior felony convictions. A few had records of felonies, parole violations, pending criminal charges and blown-off court dates so extensive that defense attorneys appeared at a loss to try to make a case for bail.
Of the 15, nine were remanded to jail without bail. Virtually all of the accused read indictments charging them of two counts of felony third-degree sale of a controlled substance and two counts of felony third-degree possession of a controlled substance.
‘This, I guess’
During questioning by Williams about their financial status to determine their eligibility for a public defender, one man reported working at a day care center and two others mentioned occasional work in construction but most remained silent when asked about employment.
Then there was Brian Jones, 35, who, staring intently at the indictment on the defense table before him, muttered, “This, I guess” when asked by Williams how he made a living. The response prompted an incredulous Williams to admonish Jones that his words, spoken with an ADA standing a few feet away, could come back to haunt him at trial.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jones replied. “I’m going to get hung anyway.”
A new rapport
With the raids over and the court cases just getting underway, things are starting to get back to normal for the KPD. As of Wednesday, April 4, there were still 10 people wanted on the indictments. Paulding added that a “second phase” of the sweep was already under way. While no one believes that the operation will put an end to drugs or gangs in Kingston, the cops involved say that Clean Sweep’s real legacy is in a new sense of rapport with a community of city residents eager for action against drugs and gangs and new, stronger bonds forged between disparate law enforcement agencies through eight months of street-corner stakeouts and executive-level strategy sessions and one morning of well-coordinated door-busting.
In his office at Garraghan Drive, Tinti holds up boards printed with images of drugs, arrest stats and nearly 100 mugshots, props leftover from a hastily convened press conference touting the raid. Flipping over the boards, Tinti grins as he gestures to the clean white surface on the back.
“I’m saving these for the next one.”
