THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, May 10, 1995                TAG: 9505100001
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A16  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines

JUSTICE FOR DRUG GANGSTERS IN NORFOLK DOING DRUGS WAS OUT

Discipline is the key to success in most undertakings. That's as true for criminals as for noncriminals. So ``No drug use'' was a commandment binding upon personnel enrolled in the Robert Gillins crack-cocaine combine that thrived for five years until the feds shut it down. Selling cocaine - some 5,000 kilos of it, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials say - was OK for gang members. Inhaling or smoking it (in its crack form) was a no-no.

Anyone - young people especially - tempted to ease life's pains with dangerous drugs might ponder the Gillins commandment before putting down good money for banned drugs. A drugged-out gang wouldn't have lasted very long. Its members knew they were peddling poison. Powdered cocaine is health hazard enough - remember Len Bias? Crack is worse - an accelerator of inner-city violence and decline.

Staff writer Lynn Waltz's fine report Sunday detailed the organizational structure and inner workings of the conspiracy that transformed kilos of cocaine into crack for sale in Hampton Roads and Richmond, as well as Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio. The sordid particulars emerged during the recent trial of gang members in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

Twenty-eight people have thus far been convicted on charges related to the criminal - indeed, murderously criminal - Gillins enterprise. Among them is Gillins, a Bronx resident who reportedly was transporting cocaine along I-95 to Hampton Roads at age 18.

Gillins functioned as the chief executive officer of the multistate ring, which peddled the lion's share of its contraband in Virginia. Answerable to him were his illegal-business partners in Hampton Roads, Richmond and elsewhere. Below them were middle managers who delivered drugs to distributors for transfer to big customers and street dealers. Also on the Gillins payroll were operations managers, couriers and enforcers.

This tidy arrangement prospered while it stayed hidden. But then bits and pieces came to light. With the cooperation of informants inside the Gillins cabal, federal law-enforcement officers assembled a picture of a sizable unlawful entrepreneurial activity.

Some of their information came from low-ranking personnel aggrieved at rough treatment by higher ups who accused them of stealing or abandoned them when they were arrested.

Maltreating underlings is never smart. The betrayed often find ways - sometimes subtle, sometimes ham-handed - to even the score. In the case of Gillins and company, the score eveners almost certainly will be serving l-o-n-g and justly deserved stretches in prison. Few could be unhappy about that. by CNB