Law Enforcement Officials Announce Charges Against Local Gang For Trafficking Fentanyl
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The U.S. Attorney's Office announced federal indictments for more than two dozen people following a major drug bust in Pittsburgh's East End.
On Friday, investigators unsealed two separate but related indictments from a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh. The indictment charges 26 people with alleged connections to the street gang "Shot Boyz" for federal drug and gun violations.
"One of the tools of trade-in drug trafficking organizations is violence. So firearms come along with that. They used firearms to further their drug trafficking activities," said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Brady.
The federal indictments follow a five-month wiretap investigation headed by the U.S. Attorney's Office with assistance from the FBI Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.
The focal point of the investigation was fentanyl trafficking and gun violence in the city of Pittsburgh, East Hills, Homewood and Wilkinsburg.
"The East End has been plagued by violence. Thirty percent of all the shots fired in the city of Pittsburgh come from Zone 5," said Brady.
Investigators said the distribution spanned as far as Verona and Latrobe.
Agents allege the defendants named in the first indictment conspired to possess and distribute a minimum of 400 grams of fentanyl over the past five months. The second indictment charges one man, a convicted felon, with firearm possession.
"The people at the top will be procuring supplies of illegal drugs from out of state suppliers for distribution," said Mike Christman, FBI Pittsburgh agent.
Investigators told KDKA that there will be more crackdowns to come.
"We want Pittsburgh to be the safest city in America. And so we're going to do everything we can to make that happen," said Brady.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the first indictment carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The second indictment comes with a max sentence of 10 years.
