PhillyDaily.com ran my Crime Beat column today on the FBI and Philadelphia Police historic drug raid in Philadelphia's Kensington area.
You can read the column via the link below or the text below:
FBI and Philadelphia Police take down a violent drug trafficking gang in Kensington - Philly Daily
I know a retired Philadelphia detective who worked the streets of Kensington for a good part of his career.
The
detective took me on several “ride-alongs” through Kensington’s open-air drug
market and the sad and pathetic drug user’s street scene. Riding shotgun while
driving through the neighborhood, I saw the stooped, staggering, and squatting
drug addicts who inhabit the sidewalk amidst trash and garbage. I also saw drug
dealers openly selling their deadly wares.
Photos
and news stories about Kensington’s open-air drug market and drug-addicted
street people have been featured prominently in the press worldwide, giving
Philadelphia a black eye, so I was pleased to learn that the FBI and the
Philadelphia Police conducted a massive raid on one of the area’s most prolific
and violent drug gangs in Kensington.
The
drug gang takedown also made news across the country and the world.
On
October 24th, David Metcalf, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania, announced a historic indictment against a violent drug
trafficking organization operating in the Kensington section of
Philadelphia.
According
to Metcalf, the indictment charges 33 alleged members of the Weymouth Street
Drug Trafficking Organization with conspiracy to distribute controlled
substances and dozens of related offenses.
Metcalf
appeared at the press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, Wayne
Jacobs, the FBI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge, and Kevin Bethel, the
Philadelphia Police Commissioner, as well as other federal and state law
enforcement officials.
According
to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the indictment alleges that from about January
2016 through October 2025, the Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization
distributed fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine, and cocaine on the 3100 block of
Weymouth Street, one of the most prolific drug blocks in the city. The gang
functioned as an open-air drug market where illegal narcotics are sold every
day and at all hours.
While
that block is the nucleus of the group’s alleged activity, their area of
operations has extended to include the corner of F Street and Clementine
Street, the corner of E Street and Wishart Street, and 3000 Potter Street.
The
indictment further alleges that the Weymouth gang uses violence to enforce its
territory, including shootings, murder, and physical assaults. Members of the
Weymouth drug trafficking gang retaliate against witnesses that the gang
believes provides information to law enforcement and they commit violent acts
against members of rival drug trafficking organizations.
As
alleged in the indictment, the Weymouth Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) is
headed by Jose Antonio Morales Nieves, “Flaco,” 45, of Luquillo, Puerto Rico.
He is accused of authorizing other members of the drug gang to sell drugs on
his block in exchange for “rent.”
“Morales
Nieves helps protect the members of the DTO through the threat of violent acts,
performed either by himself or his associates, against others who have caused
the Weymouth DTO harm or attempted to sell controlled substances in the DTO’s
territory,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office explained.
Twenty-four
defendants were arrested in coordinated operations. Eight defendants were
already in state or federal custody, and one remains at large.
“This
indictment is the largest federal case of this century prosecuted by our office
and it attacks the very heart of the opioid crisis in the neighborhoods of
Kensington,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “We are committed to returning these
neighborhoods to their residents and reclaiming them from drug dealers who
profit from the misery of others.”
FBI
Director Patel said “Today, even more criminals are off the streets because of
the diligent work of the FBI and our partners. Over 30 people have been charged
for their alleged role in drug trafficking and dozens of other offenses.
“These
individuals were charged with distributing fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine on one
of the most prolific drug blocks in Philadelphia. They were members of a
violent drug trafficking organization and used violence to enforce their
territory and sell drugs that poison our city streets and community. The FBI
will continue our work to put an end to drug trafficking and violence in our
cities.”
Kevin
Bethel, the Philadelphia Police Commissioner, added, “Today’s actions were the
culmination of a deliberate, patient, and highly coordinated investigation into
a violent criminal enterprise operating on and around Weymouth Street in
Kensington, This group pumped fentanyl into a community already hurting, and
they used violence to protect their business. Thank you to our state and
federal partners who continue to show up in Philadelphia not as visitors but as
teammates: FBI Director Patel, U.S. Attorney Metcalf, FBI Philly SAC Jacobs and
his team, the DEA, the Attorney General’s Office, and to our own DC Jim Kelly
and the men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department's Narcotics Bureau
who did the hard work to get us here.
“This is One Philly in action - exactly the model Mayor
Parker has demanded from day one: not turf battles, not silos, but agencies
standing shoulder-to-shoulder around a single mission: protecting the people of
this city.”
PSN Recon
builds on the original mission of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe
Neighborhoods (“PSN”) initiative, to collaboratively address violence in
partnership with state and local enforcement officials.
I believe
utilizing the combined might of federal, state and local law enforcement
agencies and federal and state prosecutors is the best way to combat violent
drug gangs in Philadelphia and across the country.
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