Burning Atlanta

It's always about the money. I wanted to share a little more information that came out of the AJC concerning some of the specifics.

AJC

July 11, DEA agents raided a Lilburn home and arrested three men —- illegal immigrants from Mexico —- and charged them with kidnapping and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The men beat and chained Oscar Reynoso, 31, to a wall in a basement July 5 for nearly a week to collect a $300,000 drug debt, the DEA said. Reynoso is a legal resident from the Dominican Republic. The men were armed with a military-style assault rifle and a 9mm handgun, the DEA said. The youngest charged with kidnapping was 19 years old.

> July 7, Gwinnett County police shot and killed alleged kidnapper Richard Garcia, 23, during a ransom drop at a Waffle House parking lot near Lawrenceville. They arrested Jose Ramirez-Perez, 24, who was in the car with Garcia, and charged him with false imprisonment in the kidnapping. Relatives say Juan David Arce-Flores was kidnapped July 1 in Sandy Springs by men dressed as police. Arce-Flores escaped from a home at 41 Bethesda Church Road in Lawrenceville after the ransom drop-off went bad. He is a suspected drug dealer and is in Gwinnett jail on charges of giving a false identity, police said.

> May 13, Gwinnett County police arrested nine people in connection with drug trafficking and the kidnapping of a man at 3231 Hamilton Road in Lawrenceville. Police found the victim in the house, unharmed, as well as a 9mm Ruger handgun and about 11 kilos (or 26 pounds) of cocaine. The youngest charged with trafficking is a 16-year-old girl.

> Jan. 19, Herbert Junior Higgins, 57, was found slain in his van in the parking lot of the Wesley Paces Apartments on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross. Previously Higgins told police he was kidnapped Dec. 21, 2007, by four "professionals" looking for money, who hung him by handcuffs in a warehouse and beat him. They drove Higgins to a friend's home at 1302 Stoneybrook Drive in Tucker because they believed the friend had money. The kidnappers opened fire on the friend, who shot back. Higgins escaped and climbed a fence with his handcuffs on.