(2 of 9)
In the five years since crack first appeared in the U.S., this cheap, powerful cocaine derivative has virtually shredded what was left of the tattered social fabric of the ghetto. The driving force behind the drug epidemic is not just the highly addictive nature of crack; many young hustlers never touch the stuff. They are drawn by the more enticing lure of fast money. "They can make $1,000 a week dealing," says Blair Miller of the Adolescent Dual Diagnosis Unit in Detroit's Samaritan Health Center. "These kids have no other skills. It's very hard to resist." In some cities, the crack trade may be one of the bigger job programs for youngsters.
Teenagers have come to dominate all aspects of the crack business. "They are being used to process, package, cut and distribute, to sell and even to enforce discipline in the ranks," says Roy Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of Michigan. Those familiar with the inner-city drug trade have never seen anything like it. "I grew up here," says Sergeant Tom Hughes of the Wayne County probate court, which includes Detroit. "There were drugs in our neighborhood. But they were heroin dealers. They didn't mess with children. That was the difference."
With the advent of crack, juvenile arrests in New York City tripled, from 386 in 1983 to 1,052 last year. Detroit-area police busted 647 youths last year, almost twice as many as in 1986. A staggering increase in juvenile drug arrests has occurred in Washington, jumping from 483 in 1983 to 1,894 in 1987. Four years ago, the number of drug arrests among Washington children under the age of twelve was zero. In 1987, it was 35.
The thugs who founded the crack trade recognized early on that young teens do not run the risk of mandatory jail sentences that courts hand out to older dealers. Because juveniles are rarely imprisoned for any great length of time, they provide a uniquely recyclable labor pool. "We have created a revolving door," says George Robinson, assistant district attorney for Fulton County, Ga., which covers Atlanta. "There is no provision under our law to mandate restrictive custody for these youths. They're selling drugs, and we're just spanking them on the hands."
Lookout is the entry-level position for nine- and ten-year-olds. They can make $100 a day warning dealers when police are in the area. Sometimes the pint-size apprentice is rewarded with the most fashionable sneakers, bomber jacket or bicycle. The next step up the ladder is runner, a job that can pay more than $300 a day. This is the youngster who transports the drugs to the dealers on the street from the makeshift factories where cocaine powder is cooked into rock-hard crack. Finally, an enterprising young man graduates to the status of dealer, king of the street. In a hot market like New York City, an aggressive teenage dealer can make up to $3,000 a day.
"My role models used to be people that made a lot of money," says Jeff Woodberry, 20, of Queens, N.Y. "They were driving nice cars and wearing gold chains. I could see that drug dealing was the quickest way of making money." Woodberry started selling marijuana and cocaine at 14.