PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Federal authorities dismantled a massive drug trafficking operation in Kensington on Friday.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania David Metcalf says the allegations in the 33-person indictment of the Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization go back to 2016, and the investigation took several years.
It culminated Friday morning as the FBI executed 11 search warrants and arrested 22 people, most in and around the 3100 block of Weymouth Street in Kensington — where the organization’s main hub was thought to be — but arrests were also made by authorities in Puerto Rico, Delaware and South Jersey.
Agents also seized copious amounts of fentanyl — more than 400 grams — and other narcotics, as well as dozens of firearms, including assault rifles.
Metcalf said the organization’s leaders, Jose Antonio Morales Nieves, also known as Flaco, and Ramón Roman Montañez, ran the drug operation like a business, but ruled through violence and fear on the backs of shootings, robberies, home invasions and the like.
“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, and law and order,” Metcalf said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said he wasn’t directly involved with the largest indictment in nearly a century, but he wanted to show support for local law enforcement.
“This Weymouth Street gang is not just one instance of removing a couple of people. It is an example of how you remove an entire organization that is corrupting not just the City of Philadelphia, but the state of Pennsylvania as well,” he said.
Metcalf issued a warning for any other drug traffickers in the city.
“You will see our face again. The next indictment has a space with your name on it.”