South Boston Drama

Fans of the 2008 HBO show “The Wire,” will recognize the premise: a gritty cop drama about drug dealing in the projects. Only that was fiction, and it happened in Baltimore. We have our own version that has been playing out since the show aired and is ongoing. The latest episode involves the arrest of 21 people in a heroin/cocaine ring.

Even back in 2009, the elements were there. One drug dealer, Garrett “G-whiz” Jackson is arrested for shooting Tommy Speed in the back of the head. Called the Trotter Court murderer, Mr. Jackson is reported to have described it as “part of a business plan” in the drug trade. Nothing personal, you understand. He’s now serving life without parole.

After a continuing series of complaints from residents at the Lennox Street Housing Development, aka “the projects,” police opened up Operation Tanglewood. They conducted numerous buys with undercover officers until they had enough to act in a big way.

According to a statement in the Boston Police News, District Attorney Conley said, “The ease with which plainclothes officers bought cocaine and heroin over and over again shows just how brazen these defendants were. The density of drug retailers in this area forced residents to walk a gauntlet every time they left for school, came home from work, or went out to the store. They brought us their concerns, we acted, and the result is safer streets, homes, and parks for families and businesses.”

Hopefully, real life won’t play out like the television show, where new dealers rose up quickly to replace those arrested. An optimist would believe so. Unfortunately, it is far more likely that drugs will continue to be sold, if not out of the Lennox Street area, somewhere else. After all, Boston has a great appetite for cocaine and heroin.