Federal Indictment Issued for Members of Black Mafia Family

A federal indictment has been issued against a group known as the Black Mafia Family, accusing its members of transporting drugs around the country.^[1] This is the fifth indictment in the last few years against members of the Atlanta based group.^[2]

The Black Mafia Family grew into a national, multimillion dollar operation with much of this money coming from hip-hop music.^[3] The government asserts otherwise, however, and now more than 100 people with ties to the group have been federally indicted.^[4]

The latest indictment came last week in Los Angeles, where a federal grand jury charged 20 people with involvement in a drug ring.^[5] They are members or associates of the Black Mafia Family and the Campanella Park Piru Blood, a street gang from Compton, CA, that allegedly supplied cocaine to the Black Mafia Family.^[6]

Tuesday, more than 200 law enforcement officers executed search warrants at 21 locations, sixteen in California, three in St. Louis and two in Atlanta.^[7]

Agents from the FBI and DEA seized about $100,000 in cash, 20 guns, drugs and drug paraphernalia, as well as a yacht, motor home and seven vehicles, and the raids resulted in 13 arrests.^[8] It has been asserted that the Black Mafia Family transported cocaine, heroin and PCP from Los Angeles by hiding it in trucks and taking it to St. Louis and Atlanta.^[9]

The drug laws in this country are enormously complex and are tucked into Title 21 of the United States Code. Drugs are categorized into one of five "schedules." "In determining into which schedule a drug or other substance should be placed," certain factors, which do not require specific findings, are considered.^[10]These schedules can be found here.

21 U.S.C. § 841 covers possession with intent to distribute, and in that statute it states that except as authorized by this statute, it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally 1) to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance; or 2) to create, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to distribute or dispense, a counterfeit substance.^[11]

---

^[1] AP Staff, New charges, arrests as feds target Black Mafia Family, Associated Press Newswire, November 7, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] Id.
^[10] Drug Enforcement Agency, Drugs of Abuse Publication, Chapter 1, available here (last visited November 7, 2007).
^[11] 21 U.S.C. § 841(2007).