NEW YORK, NY – A resident of Pittsburgh has been sentenced in federal court to 21 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release on his conviction of violating federal narcotics laws, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.
United States District Judge William S. Stickman IV, imposed the sentence on St. John Williams, age 29, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
According to information presented to the court, Williams conspired from January 2018 to June 2019, with more than 30 other individuals, many of whom were members of the Darccide/Smash 44, or DS44, neighborhood gang operating in the South Side area of Pittsburgh, to distribute quantities of fentanyl and heroin. Members of the Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force conducted the investigation of the DS44 gang and its drug-trafficking activity. As part of this large-scale narcotics and firearms investigation, the United States received authorization to conduct a federal wire investigation. The investigation revealed that Williams was obtaining distribution quantities of fentanyl and heroin from his codefendant, Anthony Jeeter, for further distribution, and was distributing fentanyl and heroin on behalf of his coconspirator Christopher Highsmith.
Assistant United States Attorneys Carolyn J. Bloch and Brendan J. McKenna prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the multi-agency investigation of this case, which also included the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, Allegheny County Adult Probation, Allegheny County Police Department, Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Narcotics, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, and the Wilkinsburg Police Department. Other assisting agencies include the Green Tree Police Department, New York City Police Department, Mount Oliver Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Yonkers Police Department, United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.