FBI arrests 24, indicts 33 in massive drug raid on Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood

The FBI carried out a raid in the drug and crime ridden neighborhood of Kensington in Philadelphia on Friday, indicting 33 people and arresting 24. The neighborhood has long been a haven for drug dealers and users and this is the largest indictment brought in a century in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization was targeted by the FBI and the 24 were arrested after search warrants were executed. US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania David Metcalf said that the conspiracy has spanned about a decade and that "tremendous" volumes of drugs, including fentanyl and other narcotics, were involved, per ABC.

"We have permanently removed a drug trafficking organization out of the streets of Philadelphia, and they're going to stop pouring guns and chemicals and drugs into our communities," FBI Director Kash Patel said. "And our children are safer today."

"And like a precision missile, it has been targeted for maximum impact where it needed to go... the heart of the opioid scourge here in Kensington," Metcalf said. In addition to drugs, many firearms were seized.

Alleged ringleader Jose Antonio Morales Nieves, 45, aka "Flaco," allowed dealers to do their business on "his block" in exchange for kickbacks, known as "rent." Morales Nieves is from Puerto Rico and was arrested.

Ramon Roman-Montanez, known as "Viejo," was also arrested and was conducting street-level operations. Roman-Montanez is from Philadelphia. Nancy Rios-Valentin, 33, was allegedly organizing a schedule as to when people could peddle their goods and she also handled the proceeds from the operation.

"The vast majority of our actions were concentrated right here in Kensington, where this organization devastated the community, fueled violence and spread fear among residents for nearly a decade," said FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia office Wayne Jacobs.

"Morales Nieves helps protect the members of the DTO through the threat of violent acts," Metcalf said, "performed either by himself or his associates, against others who have caused the Weymouth DTO harm or attempted to sell controlled substances in the DTO's territory."

"This indictment alleges that the Weymouth Street drug trafficking organization, for nearly a decade, sold and distributed substantial volumes of fentanyl, crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin, mostly in the 3100 block of Weymouth Street. They made their living in one of the most notorious and prolific segments of an open-air drug market here in Kensington," Metcalf said.