U.S. Energy Information Administration says that in 2013, nearly half of New Hampshire households relied on heating oil. That’s compared to only about 6 percent nationally. New Hampshire does not produce any of the fossil fuels it burns for energy or heat, so by the time the oil has traveled across multiple state lines, the price has risen tremendously. The DEA says cocaine and heroin in the Northeast come predominantly from Mexico. They’re driven up through the Southwestern border and travel across the interstate highway system before ending up in large cities like New York. From New York, the drugs make their way to the North Shore of Massachusetts, where cities like Lawrence act as another hub for drug distribution. Police say that the retail price of heroin in New Hampshire is about twice what it costs to buy in Lawrence, so even if suppliers aren’t buying wholesale, there’s a reliable return on investment from just driving 30 miles north of Lawrence.
Fracking fentanyl
Much like natural gas, the price of heroin is dropping rapidly. In just two years, the price has more than halved. A “finger” of heroin, which looks like a roll of coins and contains 10 grams, now sells for between $350 to $500 in Manchester, according to police and county prosecutor Brett Harpster. The retail price in Lawrence is as low as $180 for a finger, according to police. Two years ago a finger sold for up to $1,000 in Manchester, $400 in Lawrence. All too often, the heroin has been “cut” with an even more powerful opioid called fentanyl and this has made shooting up the drug far more deadly. The state medical examiner says the plurality of drug-related deaths (of which there were 321 statewide) involved fentanyl — about 44 percent — in 2014. So far this year, there have been more than 540 opioid overdoses in Manches-
Gang Landscape The cities of Manchester and Nashua are no strangers to gangs. Even Concord and Rochester have been known to have gang activity, according to the FBI. But the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, which has helped fight gang-related crime since 2008, is only mandated to operate in Hillsborough County, where most of the gangs are concentrated. “There certainly is the presence of gangs and gang activity throughout the state of New Hampshire. It is not the same as you would find in cities like New York, L.A., Chicago, Detroit,” O’Donnell said. The FBI breaks down street gangs into a few categories like “neighborhood” street gangs, “national”
these people,” Defigueiredo said. O’Donnell says gangs in New Hampshire are not carving out turf. Instead, they mostly operate as drug traffickers here, whereas in their home city, they may be involved in nightclubs and prostitution as well. This is why, despite maintaining their gang identity so often defined by rivalry with other gangs and the violence that ensues between them, police say none of the shootings or violence taking place in the city has been linked back to these New York gangs so far. “They’ll fight the territory in New York, but up here it’s just a business. You do your thing, I do my thing, don’t bother me,” Defigueiredo said.
Crack comeback
Crack, guns and cash seized on Orange Street in Manchester. Photo courtesy of the Manchester Police Department.
ter alone, according to the Manchester Fire Department. About 400 of those required emergency responders to administer the life-saving anti-overdose drug Narcan. But Manchester has already seen 65 deaths. Last year, the city saw 48 overdose deaths. Police say there were 304 overdose calls for service between Jan. 1 and Oct. 29, 2014, and they’ve already exceeded that number this year by more than 200. Fentanyl is a synthetic drug that authorities say is cheaper for cartels to manufacture than it is to produce heroin, which requires vast poppy farms in Colombia and Afghanistan. They believe drug traffickers are introducing fentanyl to spread the heroin supply further without reducing its potency. In many cases, though, it has proven too potent even for veteran heroin addicts. The drug is also being sold alone, and buyers often mistake it for heroin.
street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs. Neighborhood gangs are small, usually self-started and sometimes claim affiliation with national gangs (whether a legitimate connection exists or not). O’Donnell says national street gangs known to be in Manchester include the Latin Kings and the Brotherhood of White Warriors. In Nashua, they see Folk Nation and Gangster Disciples. While some of these have national ties, O’Donnell says they aren’t directed by outside leadership. “Neighborhood-based gangs are the bigger issue here in New Hampshire, versus the influence of the national-based gangs,” O’Donnell said. Those neighborhood gangs include the homegrown crews that have been
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Green Zone
Despite all the drugs that have entered the state lately, New Hampshire is still a market in which demand outpaces supply. “If you can set up shop somewhere that nobody knows you and there’s demand, then you do it,” gang expert Julio Defigueiredo said. “Any business, any drug dealer will do the same thing.” Defigueiredo is a sergeant in the Bristol County Sheriff's Department in Massachusetts and a special gang investigator for the past 13 years. He says not only does high demand exist in New Hampshire, but it’s unincorporated territory for gang members acting as drug dealers. Unlike Lawrence, Boston or New York, nobody has carved out defined territory to monopolize the drug sales there. “From New Hampshire north is ‘green’ territory. There’s plenty of business for all
in the news lately, such as OTL and 180. Some have coined these “cul-dusac gangs.” The two rival gangs have been the cause of gun violence and group melees over the past couple years. OTL stands for Orange to Laurel streets, while 180 is a reference to the group’s gathering spot at 180 Main Street, the football field across from West High School. Officer Matthew Barter, a Manchester police crime analyst, says that while their gang names refer to places, the gangs don’t have specific territory and members homes are scattered throughout the city. But overall gang presence does appear to be growing. O’Donnell says this is partly driven by the prison system because many gang members join the gang while in prison for
Opioids remain Manchester’s foremost problem. The same is true in Nashua and Concord. But police say they’ve seen a lot more crack on the streets of Manchester this past year. Sanclemente thinks the dealers selling crack are taking advantage of the epidemic by hiding under the massive shadow of heroin, fentanyl and oxycodone. Harpster sees it too. “Definitely, crack cocaine is coming back,” Harpster said. Sanclemente and his counterpart in Nashua, Kevin Rourke, both say police have their hands full with heroin. That’s where most of their focus is, but, they say, that doesn’t mean they’re turning a blind eye to other drugs like crack. So far this year, Manchester police have seized 324 grams of crack. Slightly more than half of that allegedly came from the six men from the Bronx. In 2014, police had seized 94 grams and 46 grams the year before that. The last time the numbers were this high was 2008. Crack had been a popular drug in the
protection. Even the county jails are seeing growth in gang presence. Brian Martineau, the deputy chief of security at Hillsborough County Jail, says he’s seen Gangster Disciples, Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, BOWW, Trinitarios and others. “Over the last year or so we’ve noticed an increase in the number of gangs in here,” Martineau said. He says that of the 463 currently incarcerated in his jail, 68 have been identified as gang members. That’s about 15 percent. At the state level, a little less than 5 percent of the more than 2,100 prison inmates have been identified as active gang members representing 16 different groups. Many of the gang members on the street are from out of state, according to Defigueiredo.
“In New England … we get it from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,” Defigueiredo said. “It’s growing by the day.” While New Hampshire might still be in the so-called green zone, Harpster sees a day in the future when the drug epidemic and the influx of gang members will lead to more violent crime. “I think that’s possible, absolutely. With the amount of poverty, lack of stability in downtown Manchester in these areas and the amount of drugs in the city, I think it could spike [in] violence from gang-related members or non-gang-related members,” Harpster said. He notes most drug dealers, even those not part of a street gang, have guns to protect themselves and their drug supply.