Fourteen indicted in Pittsbugh drug ring

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Fourteen purported street-gang members or their associates were being rounded up in what federal prosecutors called a major gang-related heroin ring in Pittsburgh.

The eight related indictments unsealed Thursday provided few details against the ring reportedly run by the East Hills Bloods, named for the section of the city with which the gang is associated.

Federal prosecutors planned to ask that the suspects, all Pittsburgh- area men ranging in age from 19 to 39, be jailed pending trial. That will happen in a series of detention hearings that are expected to begin today.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office said all of the suspects were in custody by noon Thursday. Some of the suspects will face charges of using firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.

“Eliminating narco-gang activity is a priority of this office, and the arrest and detention of these defendants will have a significant, positive and long-lasting impact on violent crime in the East Hills,” U.S. Attorney David Hickton said in a statement.

Eight of the suspects are charged in two separate indictments, each detailing conspiracies to traffic more than 2 pounds of heroin since August. Those men all face at least 10 years and up to life in prison if convicted.

Four other men are charged in separate indictments with each conspiring to distribute more than 100 grams, or about 4 ounces, of heroin at various times since last fall, and face sentences of five to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The final two defendants are charged with possessing unspecified amounts of heroin with the intent to distribute it since February. They each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Court documents show Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway is seeking detention on the grounds that the men are either a risk to flee prosecution or are dangerous to the community, or both. He’s expected to detail their crimes and other evidence to support those claims, as well as wiretaps and other investigative techniques in hopes that a federal magistrate will keep the men jailed until trial.

Online court records don’t list attorneys for 13 of the 14 suspects. An attorney for the remaining suspect, Monty Grinage, 33, of Rankin, declined to comment. Grinage is charged only with possession with intent to deliver heroin.

Prosecutors did not immediately detail how many or which of the defendants are alleged gang members.