Modus Operandi by Mauro Corvasce (universal ebook reader txt) 📕

of crack, which sells for around five dollars, is similar in shape and size to a peanut. Crack cocaine is very addictive, and one ounce of powder cocaine can make nearly 240 pieces of crack. Much like freebasing, crack is smoked through a pipe. When inhaled, this high-dose drug takes only seconds to show its effects. People using crack report that they became addicted after the first use. Crack is sold in small vials similar to perfume samplers. Crack is not only very addictive, but because of its purity, is also very toxic, and has a damaging effect on the nervous system.

Heroin

Heroin is once again increasing in popularity for two reasons: The price has gone down and the supply is plentiful. Heroin users feel that heroin is the safest of all the hard narcotics. Heroin is sold in glassine bags known as dime bags. A heroin addict can use as much as $600 a day in his habit. These glassine bags will have a stamped trademark, or legend, usually a name along with a picture. Some names seen on the streets are Tombstone, 44 Magnum, TNT and Minuteman. The heroin user will use these markings as a sort of consumers' guide for his product.

Heroin is either injected with a syringe under the skin, called skin popping, or directly into a vein, called mainlining. Smoking heroin is increasing in popularity because of the AIDS epidemic and a desire to avoid track marks. Track marks occur over time when the repetitive injections cause ulcering and collapsed veins.

Speedballs

Speedballs are a mixture of crack and heroin, which is generally smoked. Speedballs are like crack in many ways: It is a very intense, but short-lived, high, usually less than ten minutes.

Methamphetamine

The new kid on the block, which was first seen in Hawaii and sold by Filipino gangs, is called Ice. Ice is basically crystallized methamphetamine. Ice is almost 100 percent pure

and is more lethal and addictive than any other drug. Ice resembles rock salt with different colors. These colors are used to determine the quality; the clearer the color, the better the quality. Ice is cheaper than cocaine or heroin and the effects have been known to last up to twenty-four hours. Ice, like crack, is very addictive and dangerous. Methods of ingestion are smoking, snorting or injection. Ice is predominantly a West Coast drug and is not seen much on the East Coast.

Designer Drugs

Designer drugs are manufactured to produce effects similar to other narcotic drugs. Designer drugs can be injected, smoked, snorted or come in a pill form. A person with a chemistry background produces designer drugs in small clandestine laboratories using no quality control. Some popular designer drugs are Fentanyl Citrate, referred to as China white, and Ecstasy, called Adam and XTC.

The Old Standbys

Hallucinogens were prevalent in the 1960s and are gaining popularity once again. LSD and PCP are two of the more well-known ones. They both have a number of street names. LSD is colorless and odorless, which makes it extremely dangerous. Some street names are Blotter Acid, Microdot and Orange Sunshine. PCP is a white crystal powder and when manufactured poorly, it could be tan or brown. Some street names for PCP are Angel Dust, Dust, Super Grass, Killer Weed, and Rocket Fuel. Hallucinogens are ingested by swallowing, and PCP is almost always smoked.

Marijuana was very popular during the 1960s and 1970s with the rock culture. It was widely used in the open. Marijuana decreased in popularity in the 1980s but is increasing in popularity once again. Marijuana is smoked either out of a pipe or in cigarette form.

Asian Gangs

Opium is being grown in more places and the quality of heroin is becoming more pure, so the demand for heroin in the United States is increasing. Narcotics are smuggled in containers transported on ships. Most products that are shipped worldwide, are shipped in steel containers. But U.S. Customs lacks the manpower to check each and every container, so this is an ideal avenue for smuggling.

Asian gangs smuggle heroin by attaching a device to the bottom of a ship so that it will not be found if the ship

is boarded by law enforcement authorities. Mother ships, like those used during prohibition, set anchor in international waters, small speed boats rendezvous with them, and the cargo is transferred. People are smuggled from China and other Asian countries to the United States in much the same way.

Asian gangs conceal their heroin inside of other objects: It may be inside cans of food, or stashed inside of statues, or just about anywhere. These people can be very creative!

The southeast Asian gangs are based in the Chinatowns of San Francisco and New York and mainly import and supply the heroin known as China White. Sometimes they are referred to as the Tongs, which was an organized crime group formed in nineteenth-century China. Enforcement is maintained by the Vietnamese gangs. The Asian traffickers smuggle from either coast, but the majority of the heroin is sold in the New York City area.

The Golden Triangle and Crescent

Because ports are open in the Middle East, the Golden Crescent is once again in business. Heroin processed in Afghanistan and Pakistan is finding its way through India, Iran and eventually Turkey. This area is known as the Middle Eastern heroin network, and some believe it is being run by the Syrians.

The Golden Triangle includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos, Burma, Taiwan and Thailand. Smuggling through these ports is easy because of the vast imports the United States receives from this area of the world.

The Asian region accounts for most of the narcotics smuggling, with Europe being next and South America and the Middle East at the end. Smuggling revenues are also used to support military operations in developing countries. For this reason, the never-ending supply of corrupt officials seems to make narcotic activity thrive.

Jamaican Criminal Groups

Jamaican organized crime groups are often referred to as posses. Like the Asian gangs, infiltration is next to impossible, because of the tight bonding