The seeds of an 18-month investigation that led to the largest gang prosecution in Colorado history began with a 3-ounce purchase of crack cocaine for $1,800.
An April 29 raid led to the arrests of 49 suspected gang members and their associates and the seizure of drugs, cash and firearms.
A search-warrant affidavit unsealed in the case describes how authorities’ interest was piqued after an informant described making the 3-ounce purchase from a Rollin’ 30s Crips gang member in December 2004.
Authorities used undercover surveillance, wiretaps and confidential informants to build a case against the gang members, according to the affidavit.
During the course of the 18-month investigation, the wiretaps captured the gang members boasting of their $70,000 specialized motorcycle, a music recording studio and $40,000 Cadillac Escalade.
The details were unveiled in an affidavit signed June 13, 2006, by FBI agent Todd Wilcox.
Wilcox stated that informants told authorities the gang members set up a manufacturing facility in a house near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Milwaukee Street where they cooked powdered cocaine into rocks of crack cocaine to sell in the streets.
One informant told authorities a Tre Tre gang member, Courtney McCoy, who went by the nicknames Big C and Stay Ready, was shipping up to 10 kilograms of crack cocaine a week, an amount with a street value of $200,000.
McCoy also owned a recording studio, known as Young Hustler Records, in the 5000 block of East Colfax Avenue, according to the affidavit.
Marvin Bragg, a Crips gang member who went by the name Coffee, owned a $70,000 Jesse James chopper motorcycle and a Cadillac Escalade, the affidavit states, and was also selling large quantities of cocaine.
Wilcox said wiretap intercepts captured the two cutting deals for cocaine and arranging deliveries. Meanwhile, testimony in a federal courtroom Thursday from an investigator described how authorities monitored one purchase by gang members of 4 kilograms of cocaine from a supplier in November 2006.
The testimony from Robert Fuller, an investigator with the Denver district attorney’s office, came during the detention hearing of Malcolm Watson facing drug distribution charges.
U.S. Magistrate Boyd Boland ordered Watson detained pending trial, because Boland said he did not believe there was any other way to ensure public safety or that Watson wouldn’t flee.
Fuller testified that in an investigation into gang activity in the Denver area, authorities conducted ongoing wiretaps.
He testified that during one telephone intercept between Brian Hicks, a known Tre Tre gang leader, and his supplier, authorities listened as a purchase of 4 kilograms of cocaine was negotiated.
Fuller said authorities conducted surveillance and watched as Watson drove Hicks in a black Lexus to pick up the cocaine in the 4200 block of Josephine Street. When authorities moved in to make an arrest, Watson fled, prompting a high-speed chase, according to the testimony.
Authorities eventually stop ped him and were able to recover the 4 kilograms of cocaine, which had been thrown from the car, Fuller said.
Hicks has drawn interest in the slaying of Denver Bronco Darrent Williams because police believe the gunfire that killed Williams came from Hicks’ sport utility vehicle.
Hicks was in jail on New Year’s Day when Williams was killed.
Hicks, McCoy, Bragg and Watson all are charged in the gang prosecution unveiled last week.
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
