12522: North Miami officials plead for information on shootings (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Tue, Jul. 09, 2002

North Miami officials plead for information on shootings
BY DAVID GREEN AND NICK SPANGLER
dgreen@herald.com

In the wake of last week's drive-by shootings, which left a 13-year-old dead
and seven teenagers wounded, police and politicians are appealing to the
Haitian community for help in solving the killings.

North Miami Mayor Josephat Celestin and Police Chief Gwendolyn Boyd-Savage
made the first of several planned radio appearances Monday. They went on
WLQI-AM (1320) to ask people to come forward.

''People can feel left out in the cold,'' Celestin said. ``Maybe they don't
believe the police department can protect them, and they'd rather cover
themselves by not talking.''

Based on information from tipsters and informants, police believe that a
gang war that has claimed the lives of 10 teenagers in the past four months
is a clash between two Miami-Dade County gangs, The Zoe Pound and the
Terrorists.

A notorious Haitian drug-dealing group, the Zoe Pound was nearly dismantled
in the mid-1990s after warfare left more than a dozen dead. It has since
come back to life, investigators said.

The Terrorists are believed to be a regeneration of an old gang, the 34th
Street Players. They were linked to numerous Rolex robberies throughout
Florida as recently as last year.

Because of information they have received, detectives believe an
acquaintance of 13-year-old Gregory Delphin is connected to the Zoe Pound,
law enforcement sources said.

That may have played a role in his demise, one law enforcement source said.
Gregory was shot dead Thursday while riding home on his bicycle. No one has
been arrested.

Detectives also believe the group of teenagers showered in a hail of gunfire
the same night belonged to the Zoe Pound, the sources said. Seven of those
teens, ages 17 to 19, were wounded.

Two remain clinging to life. Police are not releasing their names to protect
them.

The rash of shootings began roughly four months ago. But detectives have
largely been stymied in their efforts to solve the killings.

They are encountering stubborn silence from survivors of past shootings,
from their associates -- even from relatives of those killed.

Neighborhood residents, terrified of retaliation, are equally reluctant to
cooperate.

''We've got a small group of children involved in the gangs and the
shootings,'' Celestin said. ``We need to stop them and corner them.''

Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to call Crime Stoppers at
305-471-TIPS (8477); there is a reward.

Staff researcher Elisabeth Donovan contributed to this report.





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