Life In A Fish Bowl

Coming Soon, Tegan Broadwater's New Book:

"Life In a Fish Bowl" - His true and personal account of infiltrating and taking down 41 of the nations most notorious Crip gangsters.

Click on these links for additional info on Operation Fish Bowl:

http://eglibraryreferences.blogspot.com/2007/12/inside-fish-bowl-infiltrating-drug-ring.html

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/511711/fish_bowl_sweep_nets_26/

http://www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel06/fishbowl_arrests_pr.html

http://www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel06/bell_bertrand_fishbowl_sen_pr.html

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2008/12/after_four_years_as_us_attorne.php

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FISH BOWL-Related articles In READ-ONLY:

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Fort Worth Star Telegram

December 6, 2007 – Page 1A

The Fish Bowl: drugs and guns galore

They had names like Lil Ant, Lil Crazy, Lil Nut and No Nut.

But the people who operated the massive drug operation in the "Fish Bowl" neighborhood of east Fort Worth had a serious business plan.

The operation, controlled by the Crips, involved an elaborate look-out system, a hierarchy of operators, guns and prostitution.

Portions of one neighborhood street, Belzise Terrace, (shown in this photo by Staff Photographer Khampha Bouaphanh) was "basically the 7-Eleven of dope," according to one local cop.

Fish Bowl suspects were handling $1 million in drugs when federal and local law enforcement officers started rounding them up in May 2006. The last of the 41 suspects was sentenced Wednesday.

Staff Writer Bryon Okada reports that the arrests resulted in sentences totaling "629 years, 7 months and one life sentence."

He adds that, "information gathered for the federal prosecution during the past 19 months resulted in nine cold-case homicides being investigated and some being prosecuted in state court."

Cont..below

-- Bill Miller

Inside the Fish Bowl: Infiltrating a drug ring

The last of the defendants arrested in a drug-trafficking roundup in May 2006 in southeast Fort Worth was sentenced Wednesday.

Posted on Thu, Dec. 06, 2007

By BRYON OKADA

FORT WORTH -- He called himself Tee.

He was a dealer from the west side of Fort Worth who sold dope near Texas Christian University. He could foot the bill for big purchases if need be. But his supplier had just been taken down by the cops, so he needed a new source. That was April 2005, when he started hanging around a tightly knit east Fort Worth neighborhood controlled by the Crips, talking to the crack dealers on the street.

Tee never acted the part of a gang member -- he was just a businessman. Suppliers were suspicious at first. But over the next year, Tee became a regular buyer in the neighborhood, and as he was introduced to leaders higher in the gang's chain of command -- Michael "MD" Lewis, Kelvin "Lil K" Spencer and Bertrand "Bee Bee" Bell -- he found that they were mostly businessmen, too.

"They were very smart," he said. "They were businessmen. I could call Bertrand Bell at 6:30 in the morning and he'd be doing business. The top people were not drug users. They drove average-looking vehicles. The people drawing attention to them get busted. These guys were smarter than that."

The operation

Lookouts were posted near the two entrances to the small neighborhood -- called the Fish Bowl -- on the western edge of Cobb Park, bounded by Colvin Street, Belzise Terrace, Glen Garden Drive and South Riverside Drive. If cops came near, any guns and drugs on the street would quickly disappear.

But Tee could walk in and do business. And after a while, other crack dealers would vouch for him, and true to his word, when larger amounts of drugs were available, he had the money to make the buys.

Lewis supplied the cocaine -- about 20 kilograms a week -- that eventually made its way to the street. He rarely if ever touched his product.

Corey "Blue" Holmes made the deliveries to the Fish Bowl, and once there, it was cooked into crack by Bell and Spencer, according to court testimony. There were days when as many as 30 dealers would stand on the sidewalk, or at the corner of Talton Avenue and Belzise Terrace, selling to regulars. Local cops said the neighborhood was "anti-police" and considered impenetrable to surprise raids.

Only regulars could buy. Street dealers stood along the blocks to make sure drugs were divided evenly. Customers would drive down the street and signal to the dealers. Street dealers would come to the car and take an order. Someone else would retrieve the drugs from the nearby woods or from behind one of the houses on the block. Another person usually delivered the drugs to the car.

Several drug houses were set up in the Fish Bowl and the nearby Poly area, where the users could go after making their buys. Prostitutes, who were typically users as well, were often on hand to service the dealers, trading tricks for dope. Although the gang leaders tended to avoid using drugs, they joined in with the street dealers in partaking of the prostitutes.

But on May 17, 2006, the massive operation came to an end. In a roundup by federal and local law enforcement officers, 18 people were arrested on drug-trafficking warrants. The early busts netted 25 guns and $1 million in drugs. In the coming days, there were more arrests.

The prosecution

The FBI had been called in months before, extending the Fort Worth Police Department's resources.

And Tee, it turned out, was an undercover Fort Worth police officer named Tegan Broadwater. Evidence gathered by Broadwater and the FBI during his 13 months undercover would be central to the federal government's prosecutions.

About half the warrants in the case were for people who did not live in the Fish Bowl.

Court testimony during the trials and sentencings -- beginning with Bell on Oct. 13, 2006 -- indicated that information was passing between defendants through go-betweens and relatives. Threats were exchanged, and it became known that anyone who testified against someone else could expect harsh reprisals once in prison. Bell was stabbed in a Beaumont prison. He was subsequently moved to another prison. (In prison lingo, informants are "given the jacket," meaning they can't remove the label of snitch.) Although Fish Bowl defendants were scattered to various federal prisons, retribution was common because of the vast network of Crips.

On Wednesday, nearly 19 months after the first round of arrests, U.S. District Judge Terry Means sentenced Holmes, 25, to time served, concluding the lengthy federal prosecution of Operation Fish Bowl. Holmes, who was described as a go-between for criminals higher up in the drug-trafficking chain, had been in federal custody since January 2006. In addition, Holmes and his family were threatened repeatedly because of his cooperation with prosecutors.

"I'm just concerned for the safety of my family," a relative of Holmes told Means on Wednesday. The family has moved. Although his federal sentence has been served, Holmes remains in custody pending the outcome of a state case.

The 41 Fish Bowl sentences total 629 years, 7 months and one life sentence. Information gathered for the federal prosecution during the past 19 months resulted in nine cold-case homicides being investigated and some being prosecuted in state court.

In May, Broadwater, who was moved to the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force, was recognized by the Fort Worth Police Department as Officer of the Year.

Cont…

The Fish Bowl

The small neighborhood, about three miles southeast of downtown Fort Worth, had two well-guarded entrances and was considered impenetrable to surprise raids.

Fish Bowl leaders

Lewis was the main supplier of cocaine to the east side. Bell and Spencer ran the Fish Bowl operations. Bell provided drugs to the street dealers to sell to their customers. Spencer and a cohort rented a house on Belzise Terrace to distribute marijuana and crack cocaine.

Lookouts posted

Anyone turning onto Colvin Street would be spotted by a lookout with a walkie-talkie cell phone. Anyone entering at the intersection of Belzise Terrace and Glen Garden Drive would be spotted before reaching the blocks where the drugs were sold.

Dope market

Although street dealers sold to customers along nearby streets as well, this corner was the most popular spot. Many Fish Bowl cases were based on undercover deals made here. "That was basically the 7-Eleven of dope," Fort Worth police officer Darrell Cleveland said.

FISH BOWL SENTENCES

The defendants in Operation Fish Bowl were convicted mostly on drug-trafficking charges:

Detroit "Lil Nut" Hines: Life

Howard "TT" Taylor: 60 years

Michael "OG Mike" Holt: 40 years

John "Blacc" Broadus: 30 years

Isaac "Gooch" Fountain: 30 years

Bertrand "Bee Bee" Bell: 20 years

Lawrence "Winkey" Carey: 20 years

Anthony "Lil Ant" Conley: 20 years

Mark "Big Dog" Driver: 20 years

Darryl "No Nut" Hines: 20 years

Michael "MD" Lewis: 20 years

Louis "Youngsta" Moody: 20 years

Aundra "Cookie" Taylor: 20 years

Kenneth "Lil Crazy" Walker: 20 years

Derrick "DWood" Woodard: 20 years

Aaron Wooden: 20 years

Ali Mitchell: 19 years, 7 months

Tony "Lala" Wadley: 19 years, 7 months

DeAngelo "Duck" Bell: 15 years, 8 months

Tony "T-Cag" Collins: 15 years, 8 months

Matthew "Junior" Dillard: 15 years, 6 months

Orlando "Gator" Howard: 15 years

Kelvin "Lil K" Spencer: 15 years

Princel "Bubba" Williams: 13 years

Aaron "A.T." Temple: 12 years, 6 months

Fredrick Moore: 11 years, 8 months

Gary "Gangsta" Wright: 11 years

Cleonard "Monk" Davis: 10 years

Valree Hartin: 10 years

Larry "187" White: 10 years

Reginald "Reggie" Harris: 9 years

Roderick "Big Rod" Howard: 8 years, 4 months

Gary "Lil Gary" Marshall: 7 years, 10 months

James "Woo" Wooden: 6 years

David "David Wayne" Page: 5 years, 10 months

Bobby "Man" Watkins: 5 years, 6 months

Miki "Smokey" Espinoza: 4 years

Calvin "C" Smith: 3 years

DeMarcus "Lil Cuzz" Penix: 2 years

Kristal Simpson: 2 years

Corey "Blue" Holmes: 1 year, 11 months

Cocaine in America

1. Texas is the leading entry point for cocaine in the United States.

2. Cocaine production is believed to be increasing because new coca fields have been discovered in Colombia and because record seizures have not resulted in cocaine shortages. (Colombia is the source of nearly 70 percent of the world's pure cocaine. In 2005, an estimated 545 metric tons were produced.)

3. Cocaine shipments to the United States are primarily through Mexico and are handled by Mexican drug-traffickers such as the Gulf Cartel and The Alliance. Several Mexican organizations are in violent dispute over smuggling routes. Although most of the confrontations are in Mexico, some have spilled into South Texas. Such groups have technology, weapons and communications equal or superior to federal, state and local law enforcement.

4. U.S. law officers seized an estimated 234 metric tons of cocaine in transit in 2005.

5. Mexican, Colombian and African-American drug-trafficking organizations and criminal groups are the prime distributors of cocaine in the southwest United States, which includes Texas.

Sources: Justice Department, National Drug Threat Assessment 2007, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis (South Texas), May 2007

BRYON OKADA, 817-390-7752
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Top officer fights drugs while he's helping users.

Publication: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX)

Byline: Deanna Boyd

May 18--FORT WORTH -- She was on probation, she had drugs stashed in her car, and she was face to face with Fort Worth police.

It seemed the worst day of her life.

In time, it turned out to be the best.

The bust that put the drug-addicted felon and single mother of three behind bars once again also allowed her to cross paths with Tegan Broadwater, an undercover officer whom she now credits with saving her life.

Convinced that the woman really wanted to change, Broadwater rallied on her behalf, persuading prosecutors and a judge to be lenient. He and his wife, Holli, also provided financial and emotional support to the woman and her family. With their help, the woman said, she's been clean for almost three years.

"Tegan stepped in and he took that chance with me," said the woman, who is not being identified out of concern for her safety. "Even after I got in trouble again, he was still there for me. We ended up bonding and becoming real good friends. He had encouraged me to do the right thing, even now."

So it came as no surprise to her that Broadwater was recognized this week by the Fort Worth Police Department as Officer of the Year.

Operation Fish Bowl

Among his fellow officers, Broadwater is most known for his work in Operation Fish Bowl, a 20-month multiagency investigation into the southeast Fort Worth drug trade.

Broadwater's undercover work in the neighborhood through the years helped put the investigation in motion.

Because the area was a "closed neighborhood" with only two entries, traditional enforcement tactics proved futile because police had difficulty entering undetected.

So for 13 months, Broadwater worked undercover, moving his way up to the top players and helping to build what became a federal conspiracy case. It meant late phone calls and time away from home.

"If you don't get the head of the snake, you're not going to get anywhere," Broadwater said. "The only way to tackle this neighborhood was from the inside out."

By its end, the operation netted 42 federal indictments. Thirty-five of the suspects have been convicted and sentenced to prison. Six are awaiting prosecution.

"He was Operation Fish Bowl for the most part," said Lt. David Burgess. "He's a very strong self-motivator, and he took it upon himself to take this project and did a fantastic job. When you look at all the federal indictments that occurred and the impact it had on that little area, it's incredible."

Breaking out:

Broadwater, now assigned to the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force through the gang unit, said that in his eight years of working drug cases, he has seen lots of people in the clutches of addiction and the often violent world around it.

He said he and his wife were happy to play a part in helping one woman and her family break free.

"It's the cool part," Broadwater said. "Not everybody that asks for help actually makes it out. They don't help themselves enough. They just want handouts. This particular person was willing to go out and help themselves."

The woman said the Broadwaters have provided Christmas for her children and, for her daughter, a birthday party that the mother could have never afforded herself.

Now going to school, working and hoping to pursue a better career, the woman said she would be in prison today without the Broadwaters' intervention.

As a way of thanking him, she has asked the officer and his wife to be the godparents of her soon-to-arrive fourth child.

"They really wanted to see me make it," the woman said.

"I talk to him no less than once a week. I communicate with him and his wife. I love them and they love me, and you can tell we have a very close relationship. And all of it started with him just trying to help me not get in trouble."

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Slaying suspect has alibi, authorities say

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
September 6, 1997
Author: YVETTE CRAIG; Star-Telegram Writer

Estimated printed pages: 2

FORT WORTH - An 18-year-old suspect in the slaying of a store clerk this week has an alibi that prevents police from pressing a capital murder case against him, police said yesterday.

Aundra Dewayne "Kuki" Taylor, of the 2900 block of Bideker Avenue, was being held on suspicion of capital murder in connection with the shooting death of store clerk Moayad Akhras, said Lt. Mark Krey, a police spokesman.
However, Taylor remained in Tarrant County Jail last night, facing a charge of criminal attempted murder in an unrelated case, officials said. Taylor is jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail in connection with the shooting of a 17-year-old on July 30, according to a police report. If police do not file a case with the district attorney's office within 72 hours of a suspect's arrest, the suspect must be released.

The case could not be made against Taylor, Krey said. Taylor "provided an alibi, but we haven't been able to prove or disprove it at this point," he said.

No other suspects are in custody in connection with the brazen robbery-slayings Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning by a group of bandanna-clad gunmen. Also, authorities say, the robbers in an early morning holdup of a Winn-Dixie store Thursday closely match the description of the bandits.

In the first robbery, Akhras, 33, of Arlington, was slain about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday at the S & A Food Store at 2912 Vaughn Blvd. Police said two men shot and killed the father of five children.

Less than two hours later, David Chapa, 27, manager of the Fast Freddy's pool hall at 5312 Brentwood Stair Road, was shot once in the back of the head while complying with demands to remove his rings, police said. Physical evidence found at both scenes positively linked the two killings, investigators said. The owner of the five Fast Freddy's pool halls has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killers.

Detectives said they believe that the killers and their accomplices belong to a specific gang because of the color and type of clothing witnesses said they wore. Authorities are still searching for three of four men in those killings. Police said witnesses in Akhras' killing described one of the gunmen has having distinctive hair braids, which matched Taylor's appearance.

About 1:25 a.m. Thursday, three masked gunmen terrorized employees at the Winn-Dixie store at 6513 Meadowbrook Drive shortly after closing. A store manager was pistol-whipped during the robbery. Authorities say they believe that the three crimes might be linked to the same suspects.

"There are some glaring similarities," Homicide Sgt. Paul Kratz said. "However, until we positively identify some of the suspects in the killings, we can't link" the Winn-Dixie robbery.

Edition: FINAL AM
Section: METRO
Page: 1

Index Terms: Shootings

Record Number: 472350

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Gunmen kill 2 in separate crimes One held, others sought in robberies

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
September 4, 1997
Author: Kathy Sanders; Star-Telegram Writer

Estimated printed pages: 4

FORT WORTH - Bandanna-clad gang members on a late-night mission to rob and kill attacked a store clerk and pool hall manager in separate crimes, fatally shooting the victims before they could comply with the robbers' demands, police said yesterday.

"We are talking about extreme violence, but also unnecessary violence," homicide Sgt. Paul Kratz said. "There was no hint of any type of resistance or noncompliance by the victims. They were trying to do what they were told to do.

"We are looking at people who went in not only to rob, but to injure or kill someone. " Gang unit officers arrested an 18-year-old man, identified by his distinct hair braids, in the slaying late Tuesday of store clerk Moayad Akhras and were searching for three or four other men in that killing and in the death of pool hall manager David Chapa less than two hours later.

Homicide detectives said the suspect was arrested before the pool hall shooting. The man, Aundra Dewayne "Kuki" Taylor, was being held last night on suspicion of capital murder, with bail set at $300,000. No other arrests had been made and no warrants had been issued late yesterday, officials said.

Last night, the owner of the five Fast Freddy's pool halls announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killers.

"I am absolutely dedicated to this and want to make sure they never get a chance to do this again," owner Michael Lynch said.

"David was a good guy. David was not one of my strongest managers and one of the reasons he wasn't is that he cared so much about his employees," Lynch said. "He couldn't chew them out and hurt their feelings. I'm sure they cared a lot about him. " The first robbery-slaying occurred about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday at the family-run S & A Food Store, 2912 Vaughn Blvd., where Akhras, 33, of Arlington was shot by two men wearing blue bandannas to cover their faces.

Akhras, the father of five children, was shot twice in the chest with different guns, officers said.

Less than two hours later, Chapa, 27, manager of the Fast Freddy's pool hall at 5312 Brentwood Stair Road, was shot once in the back of the head while complying with demands to remove his rings, police said.

Kratz said physical evidence found at both scenes positively linked the two killings. He declined to elaborate.

Detectives said they believe that the killers and their accomplices belonged to a specific gang because of the color and type of clothing witnesses said they wore.

When the gunmen entered the S & A Food Store, three customers were inside with Akhras and another employee, police reported.

The witnesses told police that two young men wearing blue baggy pants and blue bandannas walked in and demanded money from Akhras, who was behind the counter, police Lt. M.C. Slayton said.

"Either he wasn't going fast enough for them or they thought he'd be a witness, but they shot him and ran out," Slayton said.

The robbers pursued Akhras from the counter to a back storeroom, where each gunman shot him in the chest, authorities said. The two fled with a little money, reportedly less than $20, and drove away in a light-colored car occupied by two other men, officials said.

Witnesses told police that they recognized one of the assailants by his "octopus-like" hair and knew him to be a frequent customer at the store. They provided police with the man's street name, officials said.

Gang officers working in the area recognized the description as that of Taylor and were driving to find him when they saw him walking down the street shortly after the shooting, Kratz said. He was arrested without incident.

But police reported that he said, "Part of the group then went over to Brentwood Stair. " About 1:15 a.m., Chapa was in the pool hall office, counting receipts and preparing to close, officials said. A woman tending bar was giving last call for drinks to four customers when two men waving pistols barged in, police said.

A third man stayed at the door, apparently to be a lookout, police said.

One gunman rounded up the customers, herded them to a back room and robbed them while the other jumped over the bar to confront the bartender and Chapa, Kratz said.

From witness accounts, Chapa - who had managed the pool hall for about a year and lived with his girlfriend in DeSoto - intervened when the gunman became angry that the bartender was looking at him, Lynch said.

"She was staring at him in fear and he told her to quit staring at him. Then he pointed the gun at her and Chapa put his arm in front of her and forced her to the floor," Lynch said he was told.

"David probably saved her life," he said.

Slayton said Chapa told the gunman: "Take your stuff. Go on out and leave us alone. ' " The gunman took a bag of money from Chapa's desk and demanded his rings, Kratz said. As Chapa removed them, however, he was shot once in the back of the head.

The two gunmen and their lookout sped off in a car, perhaps with another person, police said. The gunmen also wore blue bandannas and the same type and color of clothing as in the grocery store killing, Kratz said. At the S & A Food Store yesterday, a single bouquet of flowers was placed between the door handles, while neighbors talked about how the Akhras family always helped people in the neighborhood. The Akhrases were known for granting area residents credit, hiring them for odd jobs when someone needed money and refusing to back down from gangs and thieves, friends said.

"I put the security bars up in all these stores," said James Wilson, who drove to the store after hearing news accounts of the killing. "They'd suffer people breaking in and sometimes they knew who it was, but they'd just fix the store and go on. They could have killed a lot of them, but they didn't. " Officer R.E. Ward, who for years often stopped at the store to use the phone or finish paperwork, praised the Akhrases for their benevolence to neighborhood customers.

"But the gangs were wearing them down," he said.

Tuesday evening, Ward stopped by the store and twice ran Taylor off, noticing that he was wearing a strand of big blue beads marking his gang affiliation, the officer said.

"I told him to go away," he said. "The second time, I don't know what he was saying, but he was muttering walking out the door. " In Arlington, a neighbor described Moayad Akhras as easygoing and very friendly.

"He waves every time you see him and always had a smile on his face," said Bobby Herrin, 14. Herrin said that he has known the Akhras family since he moved in next door nine years ago and that he used to cut the lawn for Akhras. He also said that Akhras, his wife and five children were very close.

"Every day they had the van loaded up and they were going somewhere together," Herrin said.

Lynch said Fast Freddy's will be closed until tomorrow to give employees time to recover from the shock, to clean the pool hall and to prepare for a memorial service for Chapa. It is only the second time that a robbery has occurred at the pool hall and the first time anyone has been hurt in one, he said.

Staff writer Christy Gonzales contributed to this report.

Caption:
MAP(S): Homicide sites - Fort Worth

Edition: FINAL AM
Section: NEWS
Page: 1

Record Number: 471841