The FBI announced on October 24 an indictment of 33 gang members involved in a drug trafficking organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in what is now the largest federal indictment in the city’s Kensington neighborhood.
The indicted traffickers are members of a gang called the Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization. FBI Director Kash Patel described the operations and tactics of the gang, which has distributed illegal drugs throughout the area for over a decade.
“These individuals were charged with distributing fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine on one of the most prolific drug blocks in Philadelphia,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “They were members of a violent drug trafficking organization and used violence to enforce their territory and sell drugs that poison our city streets and community. The FBI will continue our work to put an end to drug trafficking and violence in our cities.”
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino also commented on the arrests on X.
“The citizens of Philadelphia deserve safe and secure streets. The Kensington drug market has plagued the city for far too long. Those days are OVER. When President Trump told us to ‘go get em,’ he wasn’t kidding. And neither were we,” Bongino wrote.
Since taking office, drug trafficking operations have been a significant target of the Trump administration’s Justice Department. While commenting on the indictment, US Attorney David Metcalf maintained the DOJ’s commitment to cracking down on drug trafficking and the problems emanating from it.
“This indictment is, by defendant, the largest federal case of this century prosecuted by our office and it attacks the very heart of the opioid crisis in the neighborhoods of Kensington,” Metcalf said. “We are committed to returning these neighborhoods to their residents and reclaiming them from drug dealers who profit from the misery of others.”
