Ablett Village on the edge

Originally Published May 5, 2008; Page 1A
By LEO STRUPCZEWSKI
Courier-Post Staff

As law enforcement officials and city leaders stood inside Ablett Village's community center discussing residents' concerns recently, two suspected drug dealers walked in.

Neither said anything, officials said, but their appearance proved a point residents are echoing -- drug dealers are the real bosses of this public housing complex. They use homes as stash houses, hold court out in the open and peddle cocaine to those in need of a fix.

If there was a silver lining, it is that business has historically been conducted with little violence.
That is changing.


Since July 2007, three people have been gunned down inside the public housing complex. Police have said each of the homicides was drug related and at least two of the victims were known gang members. No arrests have been made.

"It's worse than it's ever been," said Royal Dixon, a 24-year-old resident who has lived in the complex his entire life. "And it's not getting any better."

On Tuesday, City Council President Angel Fuentes expects to introduce to council a resolution that would allow police to charge nonresidents hanging out in Ablett Village with trespassing, if it is determined they are not housing authority employees or invited guests.

The resolution could go into effect "immediately," if approved during a May 13 public vote by the council, Fuentes said.

For now, the police department has increased its presence inside the complex and the housing authority is vowing to get tough with its "one strike and you're out" policy.

Police motorcycles are patrolling the area during the day, foot and bike patrols are covering the area at night and radar guns are being used outside the complex to catch speeders.

Ablett Village has its share of issues, said Camden Police Capt. Harry Leon. "It's been on our radar for quite some time."

Ask residents to talk publicly about their neighborhood and most balk at the idea. Tracy Powell, the Ablett Village tenants' association president, originally agreed to an interview, but never showed.

"My fiance doesn't want me to do it," she said when reached, opting to send Dixon, her son, instead.

Others agreed -- but only on the condition of anonymity -- and some refused outright.
There seems to be a reason for that.

Opened in 1943 as a housing project for war-industry workers, Ablett Village became a low-rent, publicly funded housing project the following year. According to Courier-Post archives, residents began complaining about conditions inside the complex by the 1950s and, in 1990, described the area as a place for "big time" drug dealing.

By 1993, federals agents said, powder and crack cocaine were flowing into the housing complex via Raymond Morales, a kingpin who distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to the city's drug trafficking organizations and has admitted to issuing six murder contracts to protect his business.

When federal agents raided an Ablett Village home used by a Morales' associate there in 2006, they found three pounds of crack cocaine, several semiautomatic handguns, a weapon equipped with a rocket launcher and another with a bayonet, officials said.

The man who ran the home, Mark Davis, had $98,000 on him when he was arrested.

It is that type of money -- and the knowledge that there is power which comes with it -- that keeps many of the 306 families in this low-income community from speaking out, Dixon said.

"Some of them are scared of what might happen if they say anything, some are related (to the drug dealers)," he said. "It's almost a lose-lose situation."

Whichever the reason, the mechanism which has caught so many residents here continues to grind.

Last month, for example, police arrested 24 people during two fugitive sweeps in the housing complex. Dixon has been twice convicted of crimes -- receiving stolen property in 2003 and possession of drugs with the intent to distribute in 2005. And Kevin Williams, a 26-year-old resident who is planning to hold an anti-crime concert later this month, has served two separate state prison terms.

"I grew up out here, I used to get in trouble out here," Williams said in a tone that suggested his experience was the norm. "I did time. No big deal."

Now, though, both men vow the lifestyle is behind him.

Dixon, who has lived in his own home in the complex since March 2007 and passed a background check despite his criminal history, said he mentors youth in the complex and encourages them to stay off the streets. Some, he said, have joined him in efforts to make R&B and rap music. And on a recent Friday, Williams sat on the curb in front of Ablett Village's community center, watching his son participate in a "Sidewalk Sunday School" run by Metro Philadelphia, a nonprofit, faith-based organization.

Nicholas Gambetta, one of the men running the program, talked to the children about making the right decisions and not cutting corners.

At the end of a segment, Gambetta asked the children a simple question.

"So, if you could take the water," he began, "And the water will save you -- or the money . . ."

The chorus from the crowd started before he could finish.

Those shouting "Water!" were drowned out. Most, they said, would take the money.

Reach Leo Strupczewski at (856) 317-7828 or lstrupczewski@courierpostonline.com