A federal jury last week convicted two members of the so-called Frankford Drug Trafficking Associates of drug dealing, money laundering and conspiracy for their roles in a cocaine and crack distribution ring that operated for more than two decades.
Jacquel Crews, 41, and Mark Miller, 44, were arrested in 2010 with four others. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, in a printed statement, said that both men are from Philadelphia. Published reports identified Crews as a Sicklerville, N.J., resident and Miller as a Northeast Philadelphia resident.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not name their co-defendants, who pleaded guilty to various charges last year and await sentencing.
From 1986 to November 2007, Crews and Miller participated in a conspiracy to distribute hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and hundreds of grams of cocaine base, also known as crack, in Frankford, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The jury trial lasted 10 days. Evidence showed that the defendants carried cash to cocaine suppliers in California by flying to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In turn, the suppliers shipped cocaine to addresses in Frankford designated by Crews and Miller.
Further, the defendants laundered “hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds by spending lavishly on 76ers season tickets, a Mercedes, furs, a $30,000 home stereo system and through the purchase and refinance of numerous homes in the Frankford area,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Both defendants are scheduled for a June 21 sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge John R. Padova. Crews faces a mandatory minimum 20 years in prison and a possible life sentence. Miller faces a mandatory minimum 10 years to life. ••
