Of the latest round-up, all the suspects are men. All are black. Collectively they have been connected to 103 assaults, 14 attempted murders, 27 robberies, two murders, 160 drug offenses and 42 weapons-related charges, and hundreds of lesser crimes, a review of court records by the Times Free Press shows.
These 32 men that authorities have called the “worst of the worst” criminals in Chattanooga have been tied to more than 300 crimes, from murder to drug offenses and fishing without a license.
Juane Joseph loves money. He’s got photos showing wads and rolls of cash on his Facebook page; he likes people to call him Bankroll Stunna.
He watches the dope kings on television’s “The Wire,” who live the high life on drug profits until they’re gunned down by competitors or taken down by Baltimore cops tapping their phones.
“Just the reality. It be good, like it be interesting, when you look at stuff like that,” he says about the show.
Now the 19-year-old has an all-too-real supporting role in Chattanooga’s own version of “The Wire,” the round-up of 32 men on federal drug and weapons charges after a long-running investigation based at least partly on wiretaps.
The goal was to strike at the key figures in Chattanooga’s crack cocaine market — the importers bringing in powder, the dealers moving product, the enforcers unleashing violence for security or intimidation.
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