Authorities: Heroin gang plied $20,000 a day

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Authorities call them the “Smackdown Organization.” Led by Calvin Matthews, 28, of Baltimore, and two of his brothers, who acted as “lieutenants,” the group allegedly distributed about $20,000 worth of heroin on the streets of South Baltimore every day, authorities say.

Now, federal and state law enforcement agents say they’ve shut down the “significant” operation.

A federal grand jury indicted Matthews and seven other Baltimore residents on charges of conspiracy to distribute large quantities of heroin in the Baltimore City area, prosecutors announced Monday.

“Heroin is the cause of a great deal of suffering and violence in Baltimore,” Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm said he hoped “that drug dealers in Baltimore are finally getting the message that if they continue plying their deadly trade, they will be caught and severely punished.”

The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.

According to court documents, the defendants’ drug organization is responsible for distributing large quantities of heroin from 2005 to 2007 in various parts of South Baltimore through mobile street-level distribution “shops,” which include vacant residences, lightly traveled side streets, rear alleys and similarly desolate locations selected to avoid police detection.

The territory allegedly used by the suspects is a five- to eight-block area generally bounded by Baltimore Street to the north, Pratt Street to the south, Gilmore Street to the west and Arlington Street to the east.

On weekends, the organization distributed heroin next to the Social Services Building on Pratt Street, prosecutors said.

Matthews is alleged to be the leader of the organization, and his brothers, Lennell, 25, and Lionel, 23, and family members acted as “lieutenants,” the indictment alleges.

Calvin Matthews allegedly met with the lieutenants weekly to pay them $1,200 to $1,700 per week, in addition to money the lieutenants received for each day’s work.

The others arrested are Jermaine Gilbert, 37; Jerome Gilbert, 26; Donita Moore, 28; Brant Snowden, 25; and Jamal Piles, 18. Jermaine Gilbert and Jerome Gilbert are related, but their exact relationship is unclear.

The defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison for the drug conspiracy charges.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

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