Raids Smash Major ‘Crack,’ PCP Operation; 14 Arrested

A Long Beach bar owner, his son, mother and 11 others were rounded up Monday morning in what U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner said was, to his knowledge, the nation’s “largest bust in terms of quantity” for a ring manufacturing and distributing rock cocaine, or “crack.”

Three other suspects were sought.

The raids on the Anaheim Street bar operated by alleged ringleader Cecil Fuller, 47, and on homes in Long Beach, Carson, the Beverly Hills area and Malibu were conducted by more than 125 Long Beach officers and about 75 federal agents of the Organized-Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Long Beach narcotics officers said Fuller’s mother, Annie Will Fuller, 66, was arrested at her home in the 1000 block of Lime Avenue, alleged to be one of the ring’s distribution points. The house is about a block from Long Beach Polytechnic High School.

Because of federal law, the proximity to the school doubles the maximum penalties faced by the defendants, Bonner pointed out. Each, if convicted, is now confronted with possible life imprisonment and $250,000 in fines.

Cecil Fuller and his son, Darren Ray (Hootie) Fuller, 28, were arrested at other Long Beach locations, Long Beach officers said.

Authorities said they were seeking Jerrett Lee Brown, 20, of Long Beach; Karen Mayer, 22, Carson, and Prince Johnson, 21, Long Beach.

According to the complaint, the alleged ring turned large quantities of Colombian powdered cocaine into crack and also manufactured and distributed phencyclidine (PCP).

Bonner said the suspects had been operating in the Long Beach area for at least seven years.