Saturday, June 02, 2012

Members of South Philadelphia Drug Trafficking Organization Convicted


PHILADELPHIA—On May 24, 2012, a federal jury convicted seven members of the Sanders Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO), which operated in and around the South Philadelphia Courtyard Apartment. A total of 15 members were indicted in September 2011; eight of them pleaded guilty prior to going to trial. Mayoshi Sanders was the centerpiece of the Sanders DTO. He and his co-defendants peddled more than 500 grams of cocaine and more than 28 grams of crack cocaine between March 2009 and August 30, 2011. The DTO also sold heroin, marijuana, Oxycodone, and Alprozalam, with members at times unknowingly selling the drugs to undercover officers and individuals acting at the direction of law enforcement. Their drug territory included the 500, 600, and 700 blocks of Christian Street; and the 700 block of South 4th Street; and the defendants also used residences at the housing development as stash houses. Sanders obtained his cocaine supply from co-defendant Alfred Jenkins, among others.

Convicted at trial were: Jamal Stewart, Thomas Bowie, William Frisby, Kwane Glover, Malani Sanders, Davon Stokes, and Terrance Wade. Sentencing hearings have not yet been scheduled. Of the defendants who were convicted at trial, Thomas Bowie faces a maximum sentence of four years; Kwane Glover and Malani Sanders face a maximum possible sentence of life in prison; and the remaining defendants face a maximum possible sentence of 40 years in prison.

In addition to the initial police work by the Philadelphia Police Department’s Narcotics Field Unit North and the Philadelphia Police Department’s 3rd District, the case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Violent Gang Task Force. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Whitehead, Jr., Nicole Phillips, and Randall Hsia.

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