Five People Charged for Their Roles in Drug Trafficking Organization Controlled by Sex, Money, Murder Street Gang
NEWARK, N.J. – Five people have been charged for their respective roles in a drug trafficking organization that distributed fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine in Essex County, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced today.
The original complaint was filed on Nov. 1, 2023, and on Nov. 9, 2023, a superseding complaint was filed charging certain defendants with gun offenses based on the recovery of multiple firearms during searches that occurred when the defendants were arrested.
Fuquan Williams, 33; Dwight Dixon, 52; Nafee Patterson, 41; Jabriel Mason, 20; and Daqwuan Barkley, 29, all of Essex County, New Jersey, are charged by superseding complaint with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine. Williams, Patterson, Mason, Barkley and Dixon made their initial court appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark III in Newark federal court. Mason, Patterson, and Barkley have been ordered released on bail, while Williams, and Dixon remain detained pending trial.
Patterson is also charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, and Williams is charged with one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
The defendants are members of a drug trafficking organization that operated an open-air narcotics market in the area of Kent and Brenner streets in Newark. The drug trafficking organization is affiliated with, and the defendants are members and associates of, the Sex, Money, Murder subset of the Bloods street gang. When the defendants were arrested, law enforcement officers recovered multiple loaded firearms and additional quantities of narcotics.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI under the supervision of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked detectives of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Theodore N. Stephens, II; officers of the New Jersey State Department of Corrections; detectives of the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan; officers of the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura; police officers and detectives of the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Public Safety Director Fritz G. Fragé; and police officers and detectives of the East Orange Police Department, under the direction of Chief William C. Robinson, for their assistance with the investigation.
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