Charges Brought Against Drug Distribution Ring

PHILADELPHIA—A superseding indictment was unsealed yesterday, against eight members of an alleged cocaine distribution ring, charging conspiracy, distribution of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy.

According to the indictment, Maurice Hudson was the organizer and leader of the operation. He obtained bulk cocaine from his suppliers and then parceled it out among co-defendants Donavon Gray, Michael Greene, Calvin Wilson, Vaughn Nichols, Walter Ellerbee, Robert Rouse, and Lamont Williams, for sale on the streets. Wilson, Nichols, Ellerbee, and Williams, from time to time, also acted as Hudson’s suppliers. Hudson hid the drugs in various locations including stash houses at 862 N. Markoe Street, and 848 N. Brooklyn Street in Philadelphia, and inside a van.

According to the indictment, the drug operation existed between January 2007, and November 2008, and was responsible for distributing in excess of fifty kilograms of cocaine in Philadelphia and beyond.

This prosecution arose out of a task force operated through Project Safe Neighborhood, comprised of local and federal law enforcement partners. Members of the Philadelphia Police Department assigned to the Southwest Detective Division meet monthly with federal prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office, prosecutors from the District Attorney’s Office, and various members of federal law enforcement agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state, local and federal probation and parole officers, to take a division-wide approach to combating violent crime and drug trafficking activity in southwest Philadelphia. The drug trafficking ring in this case was identified by the task force and targeted for prosecution by the United States Attorney’s Office.