FBI apologizes to Fitchburg woman after using a chainsaw on her front door.

[MADem]

67. Huh? The guy next door wasn't selling pot.

He didn't have PTSD, either, near as I can tell from the reports.

He was the leader of a gang called "Sex, Money and Murder" selling concentrated cocaine in quantity or something like that.

He was also, in addition to being a gang leader, a friendly fellow in the apartment complex:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120202/NEWS/102029814/0/NEWS02

As part of a series of raids by the FBI and other police forces, agents arrived at her door on Jan. 26 looking for her neighbor, Luis Vasquez. Mr. Vasquez, 41, was later arrested in a neighboring apartment and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and other crimes.

...The raid was part of Operation Red Wolf, according to Special Agent Greg Comcowich, media coordinator for the FBI’s Boston office. The raid resulted in the arrest that day of 16 people in the Fitchburg area for drug offenses. Reading from a prepared statement, Mr. Comcowich said that while attempting to make entry into a second-floor apartment at 391 Elm St., an FBI arrest team forcibly damaged a door to Ms. Sanchez’s apartment.

...Operation Red Wolf was a two-year investigation into illegal firearm sales, drug trafficking and related gang activities in Fitchburg. Twenty people were indicted in the investigation, including the 16 arrested that day.

...Although the FBI’s search for her neighbor was the reason she went through the trauma and terror that day, she does not think of him as a gang member and drug dealer. She said she did not know of any meetings of gang members at the apartment next door, where Mr. Vasquez lived. She said she knows him as one of the parents in the building who would hold cookouts with his children in the back yard.

Statements made by the defendants and other witnesses show that many defendants are associates or members of street gangs operating in Fitchburg, including the United Blood Nation and Sex, Money, Murder," an affidavit related to the operation explains.

...Among those arrested is Luis R. "Joker" Vasquez, 41, believed to be the leader of the Fitchburg-based arm of SMM. He has served time in New York state on a drug-distribution conviction. If found guilty on the charges in Thursday's indictment, Vasquez could serve up to 40 years in prison, a fine of up to $5 million and lifetime supervision upon release.

Read more: http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_19833892#ixzz1lGaz6ZPP