Ronald "Bang Boy" Kinston, 30, was arrested in front of his Burlington City home when officers seized four guns hidden in a car

Ronald "Bang Boy" Kinston, 30, was arrested Aug. 16 in front of his Burlington City home when officers seized four guns hidden in a car that had just arrived from North Carolina, officials said. The weapons were part of a guns-for-heroin trade, the officials alleged. alleged leader of the Bounty Hunter Bloods gang in central New Jersey called the shots and dealt in guns and drugs while under electronic monitoring by the state's Parole Board, authorities announced Wednesday. State Attorney General Anne Milgram joined State Police brass and members of 16 other law enforcement agencies at a State Police station in Hamilton Wednesday to announced they'd broken up the gang's leadership by filing racketeering and drug and weapon charges against 13, eight of whom are in custody. Milgram said Kinston was the alleged original gangster or leader of a gang that put guns and drugs on the streets of the state's communities from Essex to Monmouth and Burlington counties. "Gangs dealing drugs and guns are dealing death in our state," she said.
Kinston, authorities alleged, commanded hundreds of soldiers in the gang since at least January, when he was paroled from state prison. "This was an intelligence-driven law enforcement operation," Milgram said. Authorities would provide few details of the beginning of the probe, but State Police Maj. William Toms, the agency's intelligence commander, said: "It started with surveillance -- good, old-fashioned police work." Toms contrasted the investigation's effort with a fisherman casting many lines in a large area of water. "Now, we're putting out a few lines in very rich pools," he said of the collaboration with other agencies. In addition to the seizure of the car and weapons and the arrest of Kinston, authorities Wednesday conducted raids on alleged Bloods hangouts in Edison, South Brunswick and New Brunswick. The New Brunswick raid was at a building listed as a recording studio close to the Middlesex County Courthouse. The raid yielded two handguns that were hidden in the bathroom, along with heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy, police said. Toms said the State Police are working to identify the origin of the out-of-state guns, and whether they were trafficked through the same channels as the four that came from North Carolina to Kinston's home last month. That transaction, Toms said, has been traced to a batch of weapons stolen from a licensed dealer in North Carolina in May. Jaronn McAllister, 28, of Wilmington, N.C., allegedly arranged the transaction, authorities said. Police picked him up in Delaware , also on Aug. 16. Hours later, officers were waiting when the car driven by 25-year-old Torrey Grady of Leeland, N.C., headed up the street toward Kinston's house in Burlington City. State Police said that the guns were eventually found by troopers in a well-concealed compartment under the rear passenger seat, which would have evaded notice on first glance. But troopers dug hard into the car and found wires protruding from the space and used jumper cables to open it. Kinston, originally from the New Brunswick area, spent nearly three years in state prison for eluding police and drug dealing in Middlesex, Somerset and Mercer counties, records show. He was paroled in January and moved to Burlington City. Neal Buccino, spokesman for the state Parole Board, said he could not specifically comment on Kinston, but said before an inmate is paroled from prison, he or she must submit a residence plan with an address and a commitment they will be allowed to live there. The plan is then investigated by a parole officer.
Milgram said Kinston wore an ankle bracelet that monitored his movements, and was only allowed to leave his house a few hours per week. "There's no question we're all troubled that someone who was released and paroled was dealing narcotics and weapons," she said. But she said the Parole Board is a vital agency in the fight against gangs in the state and assisted in the probe. In all locations, officers seized six handguns, 10 ounces of pure heroin worth $30,000, more than 3,000 units of heroin, called "decks," that were packaged for sale, and quantities of cocaine, Ecstasy and $23,000 in cash.

Posted in: Bounty Hunter Bloods gang