Federal prosecutors said they’ve busted a Maryland prison gang, charging four corrections officers and 20 gang members with conspiring to sell drugs inside prisons and on the streets of Baltimore.
According to the indictment unsealed Thursday, the four guards helped the members of the Black Guerrilla Family smuggle cell phones, drugs and even seafood into eight Maryland corrections facilities. The leadership of the gang, which has established itself in prisons across the country, called themselves the “Supreme Bush,” court documents said.
Using a network of smuggled cell phones and street contacts, the gang was able to spy on law enforcement officers in an effort to root out gang members working with investigators, prosecutors said.
But law enforcement officials said they also turned the cell phones against members of the Black Guerrilla Family by tapping into the calls.
Inmates have long been cautious about using prison phones, said Maryland’s U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.
“But they have not been as concerned about smuggled cell phones,” he said. “We want the inmates to know that we also can listen in on their cell phone calls.”
Members of the Black Guerrilla Family — known as BGF — sold heroin and Ecstasy on the streets of Baltimore, the indictment said. They sold the same to inmates, as well as smuggled cigarettes. The drugs were smuggled into prisons through cell phones and hidden compartments in the heels of their shoes, prosecutors said.
At the Metropolitan Transition Center in Baltimore, prisoners also smuggled in Champagne, vodka and seafood, according to a sworn statement. The gang at MTC had the help of a kitchen employee who resigned after she came under suspicion for smuggling the goods, prosecutors said.
Non-BGF inmates were also extorted, documents said. BGF members threatened fellow inmates with violence if they didn’t cough up cash. Inmates were given credit card accounts so family and friends on the outside could pay off the extortionists. The gang members often used those credit cards as payments for drugs, prosecutors said.
So far 14 of the 24 defendants have been arrested, prosecutors said. Of the 24 charged, 16 are men and eight are women.
Prisons where BGF operated:
» Maryland Correctional Institutions in Jessup and Hagerstown
» Baltimore City Correctional Center, Baltimore
» Metropolitan Transition Center, Baltimore
» North Branch Correctional Institution, Cumberland
» Roxbury Correctional Institution, Hagerstown
» Western Correctional Institution, Cumberland
» Eastern Correctional Institution, Westover
