Alleged drug ring impacted neighborhood

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Residents in a Buffalo neighborhood say they've been living under siege. They say more than a dozen properties were owned or controlled by suspected drug dealers.

On a cold February day, Swinburne Street in Buffalo is desolate. Recently, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies broke up a suspected crack cocaine trafficking operation, and arrested nine people.

  >> Photo gallery of the nine suspects

“Those are locations that were used to sell drugs from, and that’s a problem. It’s a problem for the citizens of Buffalo, it’s a problem for us,” said Dale Kasprzyk, of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Government prosecutors say these alleged dealers had been involved in the drug trafficking game since 2000, and that it was done by taking control of two city streets.

U.S. Attorney William Hochul said, “Almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for approximately 12 years.”

How did a suspected ring of drug-dealing criminals take over an entire neighborhood?

New York State Police Lt. Martin McKee said, “This started out very, very small, and it started many years ago.”

Police say the leader was a woman named Theresa Anderson. She is 58 years old and facing federal drug charges along with other family members and associates.

  >> Read the full indictment against Anderson

Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda says, Anderson had been under investigation for two years, and is no stranger to law enforcement.

“She’s been arrested on everything from narcotics, to forgery, to grand larceny. You name it, she’s been arrested for it,” said Derenda.

Still, authorities say she was able to continue trafficking drugs for a decade, using lookouts and buying properties strategically located on city streets.

News 4’s Luke Moretti asked Derenda how it’s possible that she, and the suspected criminal enterprise, was able to operate in that neighborhood for 12 years.

He responded, “I don’t know that she operated in that particular neighborhood for about 12 years. When I look at her arrest record, she’s used a multitude of addresses.”

Moretti said, “Some people might make an argument and say this would never happen in north Buffalo. If a drug dealer moved in, or somebody was trafficking, they wouldn’t be there very long. “

Derenda said, “Again, when people make us aware of it, in the area where she was trafficking. Lot of vacant homes, very few people living on the street. A little bit easier to hide what she’s doing.”

Authorities say 15 properties in the area were purchased and controlled by Theresa Anderson and others, nine of those properties are on Swinburne and Deshler Streets.

You can’t help but wonder if it is a forgotten neighborhood. In just one area, there is 12 vacant houses.

People who live in the neighborhood know that the vacant, dilapidated houses are only an invitation for trouble.

One resident said, “People are going to just open up shop. All you got to do is take the wood off, and go right in.”

Harrison Hunter knows it’s a problem. He said, “The furniture is still in some of these houses. It’s like they just moved out. Just left.”

“This whole block is empty. The next street too. The next street too,” said Hunter.

News 4 asked Buffalo Common Councilmember David Franczyk if he would say it’s a forgotten neighborhood. He said, “I haven’t forgotten about it.”

Franczyk represents the Swinburne Deshler neighborhood. He said, “On Swinburne between Broadway and Ashley, there’s only one house that gets mail.”

Moretti asked, “The rest are vacant?”

Franczyk answered, “Vacant or torn down, so that’s what you got.”

Moretti asked, “Did you ever get any complaints from that neighborhood?”

“Overall we would get general complaints that we would call in. But not complaints that this woman is like this Ma Barker controller of this family drug ring. We never got a call like that.”

Buffalo Common Council President Richard Fontana has seen what happens to neighborhoods when illegal drug activity takes over.

Fontana said, “They scare out the homeowners. They rob the remaining people, and then they do their criminal enterprise. That’s the recipe for disaster on the street.”

“It becomes a ghost town, and they’re the only ones left,” said Fontana.