The FBI and Philadelphia’s top federal prosecutor announced Friday the takedown of the Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization that they say ran like a business and peddled in poison for more than a decade.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf and the FBI said 33 people, including two of the group’s leaders, Jose Antonio Morales Nieves and Ramon Roman-Montanez, were indicted in connection with the drug trafficking organization.
Metcalf said 24 people were arrested Friday in Philadelphia, Delaware, New Jersey and Puerto Rico, with the vast majority happening in Kensington. Eight people were already in state or federal custody and investigators are still looking for one person, Metcalf said. Â
Law enforcement agents recovered dozens of guns off the streets, including assault rifles, and seized “substantial volumes” of fentanyl and other narcotics at locations associated with the suspects, Metcalf said.
“This case takes place at the crossroads and violence,” Metcalf said, “and we are all here with a loud and unmistakable message that we are reclaiming these neighborhoods for the people who live and work here. We are taking back what the defendants are alleged to have stolen from the community, which is peace, prosperity, law and order.”
Metcalf said the Weymouth Street gang sold and distributed fentanyl, crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin for over a decade in “one of the most notorious and prolific segments of an open-air drug market” in Kensington. The allegations date back to at least January 2016, court documents say.
Court documents allege the gang would brand the drugs with “stamps,” known to its customers and other drug trafficking organizations.
Morales Nieves was described as the gang’s ringleader who “essentially owned the 3100 block of Weymouth Street,” Metcalf said.
The 45-year-old Puerto Rico native allowed other members of the gang to sell drugs on the block for “rent,” the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said.
Court documents allege Morales Nieves protected his members through the threat of violence. He allegedly also threatened drug dealers who attempted to sell in the gang’s territory, according to court documents.
Roman-Montanez is alleged to have run the gang’s day-to-day operations, directed its revenue, organized the schedule for its dealers and curated its drug supply, Metcalf said.
“They ran it like a business, but they also ran it, as the director alluded to, by violence, by fear and by threats,” Metcalf said. “They enforced their territory through the threats of assaults, shootings and murder. They threatened anyone who talked to or cooperated with law enforcement.”
Federal law enforcement shared images of what they say were customers lining up on Weymouth Street as the gang allegedly handed out drug samples.
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Another picture shows what federal prosecutors are describing as a music video showing a gang member holding a handgun with an extended magazine on a stoop outside of what they called a bunker.
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Court documents allege the gang had an established schedule distributed to members in written form or via verbal or phone communications. The schedule included which days and times each member would be working, according to court documents.
Members had assigned roles within the organization, such as block owners, case workers, street dealers, runners and lookouts, among others, according to court documents.
According to court documents, the drug trafficking gang also operated on the corner of F and Clementine streets, E and Wishart streets and the 3000 block of Porter Street.
The gang is alleged to have used stash houses throughout the Philadelphia area to store drugs temporarily and sometimes package narcotics, court documents show.
Court documents say the gang used cellphones and encrypted apps like WhatsApp to communicate and would regularly carry multiple phones. They also used coded language, referring to police officers on patrol as “walkers,” drug proceeds as “tickets,” and heroin and fentanyl as “slow,” “lenta,” or “L,” according to court documents.
“This is one of the largest and most impressive gang takedowns that I’ve ever seen,” FBI Kash Patel said. “Not only are we removing guns and gang members and robbers and firearms, we are removing an entire coordinated section of gang violence permanently off the streets.”
Federal agents were seen carrying out the operation Friday morning in the 3100 block of Weymouth Street.
Neighbors told CBS News Philadelphia that the FBI agents had been in the area for hours and started to arrive around 5 or 6 a.m.
FBI agents were seen going into multiple homes and gathering evidence.
Chopper 3 was over the scene, showing federal SWAT vehicles and law enforcement officers.
The Philadelphia Police Department assisted in the investigation by providing key intelligence and information.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said his department will continue to go after violent offenders.
“The people of Kensington deserve safety, dignity and peace as any other neighborhood does,” Bethel said.