The Detroit News
Detroit - Federal and state investigators busted a Detroit gang that used women to transport drugs to Ohio and other states.
The case involves a gang called the Hustle Boys, and several alleged members were indicted Thursday in federal court in Detroit following an FBI investigation.
Ten people were named in the indictment, charged with a variety of crimes, including conspiracy, for operating a drug pipeline stretching from Detroit to Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
"The hard work of dedicated FBI agents, Detroit Police, Michigan State Police and other members of the Violent Crime Task Force helped result in these arrests and ultimately making the streets of Detroit safer," FBI spokesman Simon Shaykhet said Friday.
The Hustle Boys was formed in 2004 or 2005 to promote and organize parties at area nightclubs, according to the indictment.
Members allegedly charged admission and sold drugs at the parties. The Hustle Boys developed rivalries with other gangs, including the Seven Mile Bloods, Knock Out Boys, Cooper Street Boys and Stay Real.
"As a result of these rivalries, members and affiliates of the Hustle Boys were the targets of and were the perpetrators of acts of violence, including shootings, involving rivals," according to the indictment.
In 2007, Mark Antoine Davis started trafficking OxyContin pills, the feds said. He would obtain the pills in Michigan and transport the drugs to other states, including Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the indictment.
The gang used apartments and homes in Ohio and West Virginia as way stations along the drug pipeline, the indictment says. And they allegedly used fast-food parking lots as storefronts to peddle the drugs.
In 2009 and 2010, the gang used women to haul the drugs, according to the indictment. The pills were packaged inside condoms.
The gang eventually branched out by selling marijuana and firearms stolen during home invasions and burglaries, according to the indictment.
The Hustle Boys also relied on other gangs, including Boss Hogg and Gutta Boyz, to provide security and customers in neighborhoods near Mack Avenue and Bewick Street in Detroit, the indictment says.
Those named in the indictment also include Jeron Gaskin, Pinkie Lewis, William Crews, Deonte Morris, Delmerey Morris, Darrell Ewing, William Beal II, Ashley Sallad and Randi Fortner. Ages and hometowns for those charged were not available.
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