A Year After R2 Bust, Newhallville's Quieter

Sections

Neighborhoods

Features

NHI Newsletter

Legal Notices

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

A Year After R2 Bust, Newhallville’s Quieter

by Thomas MacMillan | Nov 17, 2011 8:51 am

(19) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Newhallville

Thomas MacMIllan Photo One year after cops broke up the violent Newhallville gang known as R2, Lt. Thaddeus Reddish pulled up at the corner of Butler and Huntington streets, where homeowner Mark Barros reported that he no longer hears afternoon gunshots.

Reddish is working to keep it that way.

It used to be you’d hear “fix, six, seven, eight, nine rounds” of gunfire going off, even in the middle of the afternoon, said Barros (pictured), who lost his nephew in a fatal city shooting in 2009.

Newhallville was quiet on the Tuesday afternoon Barros spoke. Neighbors raked leaves and strolled the sidewalks.

While shootings haven’t disappeared, life has quieted down somewhat in the year since cops a year ago this week rounded up nearly 50 members of a violent gang that had terrorized the neighborhood with a policy of “Beef With Everybody.” The former leaders of that group, called R2, are currently working their way through the court system on a variety of drug and conspiracy charges.

The R2 investigation netted 47 indictments, with 30 people convicted and 17 cases still pending.

It was the first dismantling of a large-scale drug gang in town since the mid-‘90s, when a string of similar joint local-federal investigations sent leaders of the Jungle Boys and Kensington Street International, among others, to prison.

City police conducted the R2 investigation in coordination with federal, state, and suburban police agencies. Two U.S. attorneys were assigned to the investigation, helping the team put together a case that would fall under federal racketeering provisions and thus lead to longer prison sentences. The Justice Department gave it a name: Operation Crip Keeper. The involvement of the feds meant the investigators could use wiretaps and make use of extra manpower in amassing evidence over months of surveillance and undercover buys.

So far in 2011, a year after those busts, Newhallville has had 24 non-fatal shootings. It had 37 in 2009, 32 in 2010. Newhallville had five murders last year; so far this year, two.

“A year out, violence is down in Newhalllville,” said Lt. Jeff Hoffman, the current head of the Tactical Narcotics Unit. “It affirms what we believed: Narcotics investigations have a long-term impact” on violence.

“It seems as though it has quieted down over in Newhallville on Read Street,” said Newhallville Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards. “You don’t hear gunshots as often.”

Meanwhile, the police department’s incoming new chief, Dean Esserman, has promised to make dismantling violent drug-dealing gangs a top priority. Along with scattered ad hoc young criminal bands across town, New Haven is believed to have four major, structured violent gangs in operation: the Grape Street Crips, the Bloods (two subsets), the Latin Kings, and the Hell’s Angels.

While R2 isn’t on that list, it still exists, Reddish said.

Moments before Barros approached his cruiser Tuesday afternoon, Reddish called a young teenage boy over. He indulged a reporter in a couple of questions while chewing on the strings of his sweatshirt. When the subject turned to R2, the teen backed away from the car. He said he had nothing more to say.

R2 is still around, Reddish said. It’s just under the radar.

“Them R Boys”

“They used to control all of this,” Reddish said as he rolled down Read Street on Tueday afternoon. “This used to be a very big stronghold.”

In the neighborhood, Read Street is known as “the R,” Reddish explained. He was behind the wheel of his cruiser, criss-crossing the streets on a tour of R2’s past territory. Soft rock played quietly from 94.3 FM on the car’s radio.

“R2” refers to the western portion of Read Street, from Newhall Street to Goodyear Street, Reddish explained. “R1” refers to the remaining eastern block. At its height, R2 controlled turf from Ivy Street north into Hamden, between Newhall and Shelton, Reddish said.

“You’d see them all out here. It’d be a bunch of kids hanging out,” Reddish said. “Other drug groups didn’t come in here.”

How did they control the neighborhood? “Through violence,” Reddish said. R2 had a motto of “B.W.E.”—Beef With Everyone. Members wore black and were proudly unaffiliated with any other group, which meant the bullets flew freely.

Reddish said he first encountered R2 several years ago when he made lieutenant and became a daytime shift commander in Newhallville. He would ride around and “see all these kids” 15 to 20 years old, hanging out. “I’m like, what the hell is going on?”

He started to look at neighborhood graffiti. “I would see ‘R2’ written on all these things.”

He also observed something else. “I noticed people were afraid,” he said. When he would talk to neighbors after an violent incident—someone getting beat up, say—he would hear, “It’s them R boys” or “It was them guys from the R.”

Reddish started moving kids off of corners, breaking up groups of kids whenever he saw them congregating. He started paying attention to faces, learning names and addresses.

In June 2009, Reddish was made district manager. “Now I’m really fixated,” he said. He said he started thinking of R2 as “urban terrorists.” Neighbors were afraid. “There was gunfire every night,” Reddis said. “Because they were beefing with everybody.”

R2 would beef over anything, Reddish said. It might start in high school, or on Facebook, or even with someone looking at someone the wrong way in the Milford mall.

He and his officers started cracking down harder, making gun and drug arrests. “We were on top of them so much,” Reddish said, “they started going into Hamden.”

Reddish started working with Hamden cops. “It just grew and grew and grew.” Investigative services got involved. Then the feds came in, with the ability to do wire taps. Then came the sweep in November 2010—and dozens of arrests.

“The Good Ones & The Bad Ones”

The arrests took out the top level of R2 leaders, Reddish said. “It got quieter.”

Now the neighborhood sees “sporadic gunfire,” but “we’re not getting it every night.”

Reddish said the neighborhood has avoided seeing another gang move in to take over because neighbors and cops have worked together to prevent it.

For Reddish, it’s personal. The lieutenant, who’s 46, spent his childhood in Newhallville. He lives today in the house he grew up in. “Now this is my family here,” he said, parked outside a corner store at Huntington and Shepard. “I see this all as part of me.”

“I know a lot of the people,” Reddish said. “The good ones and the bad ones.”

Lately, Reddish said, he’s been dealing with kids heading up to Prospect Hill or East Rock to steal GPS units out of cars or pilfer bikes. He keeps his eye out for kids on bikes that look like they don’t fit right, or are obviously stolen. He talks to teens, and runs a mentorship program.

He has learned some of the lingo.

East Rock is “the other side.” Prospect Hill: “Chinatown.”

“I say, ‘Why do you go up there?’” Reddish said. “They say, ‘They give us money.’” The teens intimidate people on the street into handing over cash, Reddish said.

“They say, ‘There’s bikes over there,’” Reddish said. When he points out that the bikes in East Rock already belong to people, the teens reply, “They don’t want them.”

They say that because the bikes often aren’t locked up, or aren’t locked up well, Reddish said.

Why do the neighborhood kids tell him all this stuff?

Let’s ask one, Reddish replied.

He drove a block and found a teenage boy he recognized, wearing a black and red sweatshirt. He called him over to the car.

“How come you guys talk to me?” Reddish asked.

“I don’t know,” the boy said. “Just to show we not bad.”

Asked if he knew anything about R2, the boy suddenly had somewhere else he had to be.

Barros, who was out in his yard with his two dogs, came over to the car. He reminisced about a time when a Tuesday afternoon would be punctuated by the sound of gunshots. Look closely at a lot of the neighboring houses and you’ll find bullet holes, he said.

Barros also recalled a fateful day that changed R2 history. It was a July 2008. “I was painting my house,” Barros said. As he was up on a ladder, he heard a kid on a dirt bike whizzing around nearby streets. “I heard him—eeeh, eeeh—all day.”

The guy whizzed by his house, turned a corner, and then Barros heard a terrible crash. He turned to a neighbor. “I said, ‘John that kid’s dead.’”

Sure enough, the 15-year-old had collided with a van in a fatal accident. His friends pulled the van driver out and beat him viciously.

The boy was a leader in R2, Reddish said. He was a capable commander; had he lived, the gang might have grown even bigger before the takedown.

“It’s The Street”

Reddish continued his tour through the neighborhood, waving and stopping to talk with people he recognized, and some he didn’t, even though they knew him.

A group of half a dozen teenagers was gathered on a stoop. One girl, a 16-year-old named Taniah Horton, was braiding Tony Santana’s hair. Another boy, who said his name is Dave Johnson, responded to a question about R2.

“I don’t mess with them,” he said. “I don’t talk to them.”

So R2 still exists?

Johnson wouldn’t say.

“It’s not a gang, it’s the street,” said Santana. R2 simply refers to a section of Read Street, to “whoever lives around there since they were little.”

“You can’t assume it’s a gang,” said Santana.

Inside the Quick Check Stop (pictured above) at the corner of Shelton and Read, a clerk was selling loosies and bags of chips. The store is located in what used to be the epicenter of R2 activity.

“I have nothing to say about those people,” the clerk said with a smile when asked about R2. “I have no trouble with nobody.”

He said he’s seen no change in the neighborhood in the year since the feds announced victory over R2. “New Haven is the same.”

No one wants to say anything negative about R2, Reddish said. “The presence is there; it’s just not seen.”

“They’re not doing what they did,” he said. “They’re not shooting up everyone’s houses. Things are a whole lot better.”

Comments

posted by: cedarhillresident on November 17, 2011 10:00am

ya cuz they are in villx2….cedar hill. And “the hill boy” Just a reminder LT. Ya know I love ya…proactive.

posted by: concerned resident on November 17, 2011 10:39am

Great Job Lt. Reddish. Any updates on the Mitchell Dubey case?

posted by: Lisa on November 17, 2011 10:56am

We need more folks on the NHPD like Lt Reddish. Keep up the great work!

posted by: WOW on November 17, 2011 12:40pm

Wow, an article on how the success of the R2 investigation reduced violent crime in Newhallville and no mention of TNU or the Assistant Chief. However, you guys did mention Reddish and Esserman. What an injustice. The writing is on the wall apparently.

[Note: Mention here near the top of the article: “Lt. Jeff Hoffman, the current head of the Tactical Narcotics Unit ...”]

posted by: cedarhillresident on November 17, 2011 3:15pm

my bad just notice in the fair haven story they did a raid after the block watch meet. :) Crack and coke still more put a start…and these were the fair haven peeps. still have the ville peeps. they busted the “Barber shop” which is never open. clapping hands.

sorry ville….to use this story put after all we are you sister neighborhood and we share the same cops even though we are clear across town from eachother….messed up.

posted by: StevieStarr on November 17, 2011 5:10pm

So kids break windows,cop stays away,kids shoplift, cop hides in East Rock,kids get bolder and steal bikes,kids steal cars,kids wheel drugs,cops are no where in sight,neighbors complaints are in the thousands,block watch meetings provide no answers. In steps the State of Ct and resolves the problem - local cop now wants to be a hero

posted by: robn on November 17, 2011 7:06pm

Thanks Vellecca, Hoffman and Reddish. This is the first I’ve read that the Quinell Payne van collision beat down was R2. It all makes a sick sort of sense why the community was so afraid to speak up. Glad to hear that these creeps are going to jail.

posted by: K on November 17, 2011 10:59pm

A perfect example of true policing. “Community Policing” on the other hand has proven to be ineffective over and over again.
When the feds and DA get involved available technology improves and investigations take on a new level of sophistication.
Instead of putting together a good case and taking it to the top, the NHPD plays around with tiny low level busts.
If the NHPD detectives could ever put together anything on anyone but low level street thugs I’m sure they would get the Feds ears again, instead of waiting for the Feds to initiate a response in the case of the dismantling of R2.

posted by: Hood Rebel on November 17, 2011 11:50pm

Lt Reddish is invested in this community, he cares and it shows. Thank you for your dedication to making this neighborhood a better place.

posted by: HhE on November 18, 2011 12:05am

StevieStarr, I think you missed the point of this. The State and Federal agencies have resources far beyond what the NHPD has, including stiff Federal time that is spent in places gangsters never even heard of.

The Lt Reddish I know does not seek publicity nor honors. He seeks to make his community a better place.

I have found Mark Barros to be a thoughtful and wise person who also cares very much about his community.

posted by: Ville Resident on November 18, 2011 8:33am

At Wow:

This is the problem with the NHPD. Instead of concerning yourself with the crime on the streets you are crying about getting credit for taking down R2. Do you really care about the community? Can’t you just be happy that crime is down in NNewhallville The residents understand that is is a collective effort by the NHPD officers; however, we see “White Shirt” out there everyday and night talking to the children. We know him. Have you been out there WOW?

It makes me sick that you have people sitting behind a desk who don’t even know the community and expect to get all of the credit for bringing down crime. Maybe you and TNU and the Assistant Chief should pay a visit to the ville as concerned officers and speak with us. Sorry, i just can’t give credit to those who have not been out there. The ville is so much better since Lt. Reddish has been there and it is about time that he is recognized for it. It is nice to go to sleep at night and not hear as many gun shots.

At Stevie Starr: Lt. Reddish is not the savior for the ville. All citizens need to step up and be responsible for their children….

posted by: Res on November 18, 2011 11:12am

Reddish is a hard working cop and he should have been Asst. Chief!!!!

posted by: Lisa on November 18, 2011 12:13pm

Why are people so reluctant to give credit where do? Lt Reddish is a hard working, dedicated cop. He lives in the ville. How many of our police force live in our city? I agree with you Res. Lt Reddish deserves to be Assistant Chief.

posted by: cedarhillresident on November 18, 2011 12:15pm

@Res

I agree but if he is who will we get??

posted by: Fed Up on November 18, 2011 1:31pm

To Ville Resident & Lisa:

You hit the nail on the head. Newhallville is safer because of Lt. Reddish. He should be recognized for his accomplishments. The ville has always been the most violent section of New Haven.

There is a story in the independent about two officers being honored by the Dixwell citizens and I applaud them for their efforts; however, Dixwell definitely does not have the gang problems that the ville has and it is an injustice that Lt. Reddish has not been recognized for it.

My children know him, everybody knows him because he lives there and he is definitely the type of person we need leading this City as Asst. Chief and even Chief.

posted by: Chante on November 19, 2011 2:16am

Can u and i say can you please not metion my son Quinnell in nothing else.i dont think thats fair for you to just feel you have the right to put false info just to make it look like things have changed.and the boy you claimed to have heard up and down the block was not my son if you feel the need to know he went up came back down and hit the truck and regarding the boys beating up thr driver of the van was very wrong but my son did not,he hit the van by accident stop always throwing that in every time you speak about him and as far as my son being the commander ha what a joke my son had no criminal background and is not what the so called media paint him out to be..and how could you say if he was still here it would b much worst,well hes not and look at the crime wave with all that being said use someone or else to make your point.

posted by: HhE on November 19, 2011 10:06am

Well said Hood Rebel, Ville Resident, Res, Lisa, cedarhillresident, and Fed Up. I completely agree that Lt Reddish ought to be Assistant Chief Reddish. Unfortunately, he is too worried about getting the job done right, and too ready to say what needs to be said rather than what people want to here to get the promotion. Our loss.

Put it another way, he cares too much about us. Which is why he is held in such high regard. No better man do I know.

I have nothing but props for Lt Hoffman, who I first met when he was the swing District Manager. I find him to be honorable and dedicated.

posted by: VilleVoice on November 19, 2011 7:59pm

Lt. Reddish has made the hood safer but if you people honestly think that R2 is dead you are quite mistaken. A lot of dudes who got caught up in last years raid weren’t responsible for the shootings. Most of the shooters are still home shooting even if not as much and there are newbies that aren’t even from the ville shooting to gain acceptance into R2. The bust just more or less made dudes take their business to other places. They say crime is down in newhallville but look at how other neighborhoods saw an increase. Do the math.

posted by: That's not journalism on November 21, 2011 3:47pm

Things might have been worse if a 15 year old boy hadn’t died? What a horrible thing to say!

That’s not journalism. It’s weird, mean-spirited, salacious, after-the-fact sensationalism.

New Haven Independent

New Haven Independent Login Form