DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997                 TAG: 9703070658

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   72 lines

PENINSULA FAMILY DRUG ORGANIZATION SHUT DOWN THE MOTHER, HER BOYFRIEND AND HER SON FACE LIFE IN PRISON ON THE DRUG CHARGES.

Alleyne Reed Wright, called ``the Ma Barker of the Peninsula'' for her feisty language and her blind eye to her sons' drug-dealing, was convicted of drug-running Thursday along with her son and live-in boyfriend.

The Wright family ran two of three interrelated Peninsula drug rings that controlled territories in Williamsburg, Newport News, York County, James City County and New Kent County.

One of the family gangs stored cocaine and drug money on Garth Court in the Ocean Lakes section of Virginia Beach, where kingpin Marty Wright lived.

Federal prosecutor Mike Smythers referred to Alleyne, 64, as the ``queenpin'' of the gang in closing arguments, describing how she kept a loaded gun under her pillow and dealt drugs from her home. Her attorney described her as a good, hard-working Christian woman.

``She wasn't a sympathetic mother,'' Smythers said later. ``Her whole family was involved in drugs, including a grandchild. Drugs were delivered to the home of a daughter-in-law, with three little grandchildren there.''

Her youngest son, Marty, 26, a self-described ``mama's boy,'' was convicted with his mother Thursday, along with her boyfriend, James N. Greenhough, 51, also known as ``Candy Man.'' The couple lived together for more than 20 years.

All face up to life in prison on charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and marijuana from 1984 through 1995. Authorities said they distributed more than 10 kilos of cocaine.

It was the second conviction for Alleyne Wright in less than five months. In October, she was convicted of intimidating a witness on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown Norfolk. She was attending the drug trial of her oldest son, Ernest S. Wright, 35, who was convicted in September with her nephew, Larry E. Reed, 28.

Testimony showed that Alleyne was a conduit of information and often knew how to contact her sons with news, sometimes waking up gang members to send them to help family members in trouble.

Once, Alleyne watched as her son, Marty, beat a woman over a gun he believed was stolen from his mother. Testimony showed Alleyne was indifferent to the beating.

In another instance, after Marty ordered the ``beat down'' of a man who wound up with a broken back and gashed head, Alleyne handed Marty a dish towel and told him to clean him up and take the man to the hospital, testimony showed. Alleyene never asked what happened to the man, who beat him or why, testimony showed.

While Marty was growing up, his mother, his older brother and his mother's boyfriend were dealing drugs from the house, investigators said. ``She raised him up to be that way,'' said Lt. Dee Linhart, coordinator of the Colonial Narcotics Enforcement Task Force.

During the investigation, Marty Wright threatened to ``blow Linhart's f------ brains out,'' Wright's bodyguard testified.

The three linked drug gangs were responsible for extensive violence, including the 1988 slaying of a Denbigh English teacher and numerous beatings and shootings.

Thursday's convictions are the last of the three gangs. Thirty people have been convicted in trials that began in September. Most will be sentenced this spring. Six gang members have been sentenced to life. At least six others have received substantial prison time.

The cases were held up for almost a year after a judge ruled that prosecutors may have unfairly targeted blacks. An appeals court overruled the judge and the cases moved forward.

The Colonial Narcotics Enforcement Task Force in James City County is made up of James City County police, Middlesex and New Kent county sheriffs, Virginia State Police and the FBI. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

James N. Greenhough, 51 - a.k.a. ``Candy Man'' - poses with Alleyne

Reed Wright, called the ``Ma Barker of the Peninsula.'' Both were

convicted along with Wright's son Marty on drug-running charges. KEYWORDS: DRUG GANG COCAINE PENINSULA

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