The U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania released the below information:
PHILADELPHIA – Acting United
States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Basil Bey, 31, of
Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced to 19.5 years in prison, and six years of
supervised release by United States District Judge Gerald A. McHugh for
conspiring to distribute heroin and crack cocaine, and distributing heroin and
crack cocaine, including near a playground.
Bey’s
sentence comes after a jury returned guilty verdicts in December 2017 against
Bey and three of his co-conspirators, all from Philadelphia, who have already
been sentenced for their roles in the conspiracy: Reginald White, 34, was
sentenced to 17.5 years, Tyrik Upchurch, 33, was sentenced to 18 years and
seven months; and Amin Wadley, 29, was sentenced to 15.5 years. Six other
defendants, also all from Philadelphia, previously pleaded guilty and were
sentenced by Judge McHugh for their roles in the conspiracy: Sidney Cornish,
31; Dassan Cornish, 29; Jerome Lyles, 36; Rhasul Lucas, 32; Jihad Thorne, 24;
and Quaadir Crawford, 32.
As
presented at trial, from at least April 2015 through December 2016, Bey was the
leader of a narcotics trafficking organization that sold heroin (including
fentanyl-laced heroin) and crack cocaine nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, to buyers in South Philadelphia. The group, which included White,
Upchurch, Wadley, Sidney and Dassan Cornish, Lyles, Lucas, Thorne, and Crawford
as members, sold and delivered narcotics in shifts in order to serve customers
day and night. Bey, Upchurch, and Wadley also maintained residences around
Philadelphia in order to store and package the narcotics for distribution. Due
to the dedicated efforts of law enforcement in this case, approximately
thirty-five controlled purchases of heroin and/or crack were made from this
drug group—all captured on video. Law enforcement also lawfully obtained a
wiretap that captured some of the group’s cell phone activity.
“Drug
trafficking is an insidious activity that destroys and demoralizes neighborhoods,”
said Acting U.S. Attorney Williams. “Basil Bey was an expert at it, a career
criminal committed to living a life of crime, and now he will pay the price by
spending decades in prison. This is the just punishment that awaits drug
dealers facing federal charges.”
“The
FBI is committed to keeping communities safe from predators like Basil Bey and
the members of his drug trafficking organization,” said Michael J. Driscoll,
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Bey’s actions and
that of his co-conspirators are particularly heinous given that they trafficked
in dangerous narcotics made even more lethal as they were laced with
fentanyl. Today’s sentence sends the message to drug organizations and
gang members that if you traffick in illegal drugs, we, along with our law
enforcement partners, will hunt you down and bring you to justice.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Philadelphia Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jason Bologna and Kevin Jayne.
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