JOHNSTOWN – Fifty-seven defendants have been charged in two separate, but related Indictments, and by Criminal Complaint, with violating federal narcotics and firearms laws, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations in the Western District of Pennsylvania initially began investigating a violent street gang operating in western Pennsylvania beginning in 2018. Agents received information from confidential sources, conducted more than 50 controlled buys from members of the organization, and used other investigative techniques over the course of this lengthy investigation. In May 2022, agents commenced court-authorized Title III interception of telephones used by members of the drug trafficking organization. The wiretaps revealed that the DTO was conducting drug trafficking operations in the following areas: Indiana, Westmoreland, and Armstrong counties in the Western District of Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Phoenix, Arizona; Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Wichita, Kansas; and in Mexico. These interceptions revealed that Arizona-sourced drugs, which consisted of fentanyl (in both pill and powdered form), heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine, were being distributed in our communities by the western Pennsylvania members of the DTO. Over the past ten months, investigators have seized more than 673 pounds of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills, over 400 pounds of methamphetamine, and more than 16 pounds each of fentanyl powder and cocaine, over $600,000 in cash, nine vehicles, and 47 firearms. (Photo: United States Attorney’s Office)