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Grove Hall man convicted on gun, drug charges with community help

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 24, 2010 04:50 PM

By Globe Staff

A Grove Hall man considered a scourge by his neighbors is now serving 10 years in prison because people spoke up and helped authorities find a gun and drugs that led to his conviction, prosecutors said today.

Boston Police

Larry Blue

Larry Blue, 43, was convicted last week on gun possession and other charges, including selling drugs within 1,000 feet of the Martin Luther King school, which is located near Blue's residence on Lawrence Avenue, prosecutors said.

“We got this result because members of the Grove Hall community brought us their concerns and we listened,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement today.

He added, “Larry Blue was at the center of guns, drugs, and all the havoc they can wreak on an otherwise hardworking community. He was exactly the kind of neighborhood scourge that Boston police and Suffolk prosecutors will work tirelessly to take off the street.”

In the statement, Conley credited Project RIGHT and the Grove Hall Safe Neighborhood Initiative for alerting police to Blue's drug dealing, which led to undercover officers making controlled drug purchases. Police in 2008, raided Blue's residence and recovered a .45 caliber pistol, $1,500 in cash and 165 small bags of cocaine, prepared for individual sale.

Blue was convicted in Suffolk Superior Court last week and was sentenced as an armed career criminal to 10 years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Donovan, according to prosecutors.

“This was a strong investigation, an effective prosecution, and a harsh sentence,” Conley said in the statement. “This is how the system works when we have close partnerships with the community.”