Denver, Colorado -- The one-day body count in Montbello, a poor suburb north of Denver, reached forty this Wednesday (the 18th of July). This record single-day high happened when the Montbello Snow Crew, a vicious drug-dealing gang, was massacred by what has been called alternately terrorists or saviors. Federal agents have been trying to reconstruct the events, but the locals' reticince to talk to law enforcement personnel has hindered the investigations.
A news helicopter responding to a Montbello Fire Department call recorded evidence of a violent firefight covering most of a city block on Pine Street between First and Second. Several bodies were lying in the streets. More were scattered around what police described as a methamphetamine lab that was burning violently. The front of another house had been perforated with hundreds of bullet holes, as had the bodies of several gang members and their car in front of the building. A burning van was still ablaze at one end of the block, and a pair of heavily damaged cars were abandoned at the other end.
Two residents whose back yard faced the Montbello Snow Crew's methamphetamine lab were willing to talk to reporters as long as their names and faces were not shown.
"We were at home, watching TV, when these people pulled into our driveway. Two of them get out of their car and came up to our door. We thought they were Snow Crew. They told us to leave, because things were going to happen. We were scared they were going to hurt us, and we told them to go away. One of them started driving away, but the others started walking down First Street. We went back to hide. A little while later, guns started shooting. We would have called the police, but the police never come to our neighborhood no more. The police are scared of the Snow Crew."
When pressed for a description, the couple would only say that "there were two men and two women."
Other residents of the neighborhood described the events that transpired shortly thereafter.
"We heard a helicopter flying around for a little while. We wondered if the police were actually patrolling our neighborhood. Then the lights all went out on the block. Machine guns started going off all over the place. We looked outside our house and saw some Snow Crew shooting at the sky. Then there was a sound like the Archangel Michael. The Snow Crew and their Mercedes and the front of the house just suddenly turned to dust like a million bullets suddenly hit them all at once."
Federal investigators have admitted that there was evidence of a heavily armed helicopter involved with the attack. Hundreds of machine gun shell casings had been recovered around the neighborhood. Some investigators said that they had given up trying to maintain proper crime scene discipline while collecting the spent casings. One source admitted that there had been as many as nine hundred rounds fired during the shootout.
Jorge Villesquez, head of the local Neighborhood Watch, talked to this reporter at length from the yard of his home at the corner of Second and Maple.
"Look, you have it easy. Reporters make a lot of money compared to most of us in this neighborhood. You live in nice houses and apartments, and you have police patrolling your neighborhood. The last time I saw a police car drive down this street was almost a year ago.
"The Snow Crew moved in at the beginning of the year. They just took those houses and scared away the people who used to live there. Some of the Neighborhood Watch went to talk to the Snow Crew, but the Snow Crew just killed them. We went to the police. The police didn't care. We don't hardly pay taxes around here, so we don't rate for protection."
Montbello Police refused to speak to this reporter after these charges were raised. Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating these allegations.
An elderly couple whose home was adjacent to the Snow Crew's crackhouse had a frightening encounter with the mercenaries who slaughtered the gang. They had been hiding in the back room of their modest house when the nearby wall suddenly exploded.
"They told us to come out. When we seen them, they were wearing black and carrying big bazookas and machine guns and stuff. They saw that we were not Snow Crew, so they told us to go back inside and hide. They came back later and gave us some money to fix the hole they blowed in our wall. They got rid of all the Snow Crew. It was like El Zorro! They saved us poor people from those drug dealers and killers."
Reportedly, in addition to the machine guns and attack helicopter, the mercenaries had access to military rocket launchers and grenade launchers. Parts of several victims were scattered on the lawn of one of the Snow Crew's houses, and one of the rental cars recovered at the intersection of Second and Pine had been blown nearly in half by some sort of explosive.
Jorge later started telling this reporter how the massacre transpired.
"I saw this card once for a guy called Jimmy 'the Fixer'. I remembered his number and called him. I told him I needed somebody to fix our problem and get this gang out of our neighborhood. I got most of the people around here to help me pay for Jimmy's services. A couple days later, all hell broke loose, and the Snow Crew is gone. Thank God for Jimmy and his friends."
This reporter attempted to interview Jimmy "the Fixer" by phone. Jorge was able to provide his number, but Jimmy did not want to provide many details about himself.
"Look, Tania. I am just an agent. People have problems. When people have problems that they can't get fixed any other way, I provide a solution. All you liberal do-gooders preach about how Big Brother will take care of everyone from womb to tomb, but none of your grand ideas have ever worked in the real world. When people can't even get the police to get rid of a bunch of sleaze like this Montbello Snow Crew, they run out of options very quickly. No, violence isn't always the best answer. Sometimes, however, it is the only answer that works. Maybe you ought to talk to those people in Montbello. This gang has killed quite a few of them who tried your nice, peaceful ways of getting them to leave. They decided they didn't have any other choice, and I think they were right. The only thing the Montbello Snow Crew could understand was the rapid and violent application of force. I was able to provide the solution that worked for the people of Montbello."
Federal agents have been unable to identify Jimmy "the Fixer", and several members of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation have alluded that they would not assist Federal investivators as long as Jimmy's mercenaries didn't start attacking innocents or police.
One person unimpressed with the successful destruction of the Montbellow Snow Crew is Carla Simons, the head of the FBI's Denver branch of the Domestic Terrorism Unit.
"People like these mercenaries are out of control. We have terrorism running rampant in this state because people have decided to start enforcing some sort of vigilante justice instead of letting law enforcement agencies and the courts take care of problems. Just two weeks ago, we had a night watchman slaughtered by some of these terrorists in Longmont. This past weekend, the crew of a local news helicopter was killed because they were investigating a gun battle near Coors Field.
"These people are not heroes. They are not good guys. They are ruthless murderers who make money by dealing death. We will catch these criminals and we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."
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Last Updated 21 Feb 2000
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