THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610230392
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 85 lines
A judge on Tuesday confirmed one of the stiffest jury verdicts for a drug dealer in the city's history: A Virgin Islands native with no prior Virginia criminal record was sentenced to 90 years in prison and fined $1 million for bringing a kilo of crack cocaine into the commonwealth in 1995.
Circuit Judge Kenneth N. Whitehurst Jr. let stand the June 11 jury verdict against 27-year-old Eugene ``Quick'' Smalls for possession with intent to distribute, transporting and conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.
``I think the jury has spoken in this matter and I am not going to overturn them,'' Whitehurst said just before sentencing Smalls.
Although jurors did not know it in June, they were recommending the sentence for one of the most violent criminals in Virgin Islands history.
Smalls, with his brothers Mitchell and Roberto, cornered the crack trade in St. Thomas through murder, witness intimidation and bomb threats before moving part of their operation to Virginia two years ago. The Smalls gang also was convicted last month of various drug crimes in Norfolk's federal court.
Nevertheless, defense attorney James O. Broccoletti argued Tuesday that the Virginia sentence was unfair because it was well beyond what is called for in state sentencing guidelines, which suggest four to seven years in prison for the crimes.
``It is so far out of line with what we in the criminal justice system realize is needed,'' Broccoletti told the judge.
Broccoletti also argued that the sentence was unfair because Smalls got a stiffer sentence than even the two Navy SEAL trainees who were convicted of first-degree murder this summer for killing Georgia college student Jennifer L. Evans. The two men - Billy Joe Brown and Dustin A. Turner - were sentenced to 72 and 82 years in prison, respectively.
But prosecutor David Laird said the appropriate question ``is not asking why (Smalls) got 90 years, but why he didn't get 120 years, which is the maximum.''
Laird said Smalls intended to break the crack into 10,000 ``rocks'' that could have affected 10,000 lives in Virginia Beach.
``He didn't care if it ended up in the hands of school kids or in the hands of pregnant mothers,'' Laird said. ``It didn't matter to him.''
The jury actually gave Smalls a break, Laird said, because Smalls had no prior record in Virginia.
Before coming to Virginia, Smalls ran the most violent drug gang on St. Thomas and one of the most violent in the Caribbean, according to news accounts from the Virgin Islands.
In September 1994, prosecutors in St. Thomas said they suspected Smalls of threatening the lives of a territorial judge there, as well as jurors, prosecution witnesses and a prosecutor, during the murder trial of his brother, Roberto ``Robbie'' Smalls. He was not charged, however.
Prosecutors also believed that Smalls threatened to blow up the Alexander A. Farrelly Justice Complex, where his brother's trial was being held. He was not charged for that crime.
Roberto Smalls was convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree assault with intent to kill. He is in jail on St. Thomas.
Mitchell Smalls, also known as Sebo, was convicted in 1991 of threatening the life of a U.S. Park Service ranger who had ticketed Smalls' BMW automobile. When Smalls was ordered to leave the park, Smalls replied that the only thing that would be removed was the ranger's head.
Both Roberto and Eugene have been seriously wounded in drug-related gun battles. Roberto was wounded in 1994 in St. Thomas and Eugene in Atlanta after the Smallses began importing crack into the U.S. Eugene, who spent months in a wheelchair after his shooting in 1994, now walks with the aid of a walker.
The Smalls brothers imported more than crack to Virginia. They also brought members of their gang to help set up an operation of ``mules'' and couriers who moved between St. Thomas and Virginia Beach.
On June 12, the day after Eugene was convicted in Virginia Beach, federal prosecutors indicted the Smalls gang in Norfolk's federal court.
The nine-count indictment named Eugene Smalls and Mitchell Smalls, as well as James M. Watley, Elvin E. Clark, Alejandro Fernandez and Jimmy Ventura.
During a weeklong trial last month, the Smallses were convicted of conspiring to import more than 5 kilograms of cocaine into the United States from St. Thomas from 1994 to 1996.
Eugene also was convicted of possessing crack or cocaine on four other occasions, including March 18, 1995, when he had more than 4 kilograms of cocaine in his possession.
Watley and Clark pleaded guilty before the trial. Ventura and Fernandez are still at large.
The Smalls brothers will be sentenced in federal court in December. They face up to life in prison.
KEYWORDS: DRUGS ILLEGAL SENTENCING DRUG DEALER by CNB