I know a retired Philadelphia detective who worked the streets of Kensington for a good part of his career.
The detective took me on several “ride-alongs” through Kensington’s open-air drug market and the sad and pathetic drug user’s street scene. Riding shotgun while driving through the neighborhood, I saw the stooped, staggering, and squatting drug addicts who inhabit the sidewalk amidst trash and garbage. I also saw drug dealers openly selling their deadly wares.
Photos and news stories about Kensington’s open-air drug market and drug-addicted street people have been featured prominently in the press worldwide, giving Philadelphia a black eye, so I was pleased to learn that the FBI and the Philadelphia Police conducted a massive raid on one of the area’s most prolific and violent drug gangs in Kensington.
The drug gang takedown also made news across the country and the world.
On October 24th, David Metcalf, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced a historic indictment against a violent drug trafficking organization operating in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.
According to Metcalf, the indictment charges 33 alleged members of the Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and dozens of related offenses.
Metcalf appeared at the press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, Wayne Jacobs, the FBI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge, and Kevin Bethel, the Philadelphia Police Commissioner, as well as other federal and state law enforcement officials.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the indictment alleges that from about January 2016 through October 2025, the Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization distributed fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine, and cocaine on the 3100 block of Weymouth Street, one of the most prolific drug blocks in the city. The gang functioned as an open-air drug market where illegal narcotics are sold every day and at all hours.
While that block is the nucleus of the group’s alleged activity, their area of operations has extended to include the corner of F Street and Clementine Street, the corner of E Street and Wishart Street, and 3000 Potter Street.
The indictment further alleges that the Weymouth gang uses violence to enforce its territory, including shootings, murder, and physical assaults. Members of the Weymouth drug trafficking gang retaliate against witnesses that the gang believes provides information to law enforcement and they commit violent acts against members of rival drug trafficking organizations.
As alleged in the indictment, the Weymouth Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) is headed by Jose Antonio Morales Nieves, “Flaco,” 45, of Luquillo, Puerto Rico. He is accused of authorizing other members of the drug gang to sell drugs on his block in exchange for “rent.”
“Morales Nieves helps protect the members of the DTO through the threat of violent acts, 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,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office explained.
Twenty-four defendants were arrested in coordinated operations. Eight defendants were already in state or federal custody, and one remains at large.
“This indictment is the largest federal case of this century prosecuted by our office and it attacks the very heart of the opioid crisis in the neighborhoods of Kensington,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “We are committed to returning these neighborhoods to their residents and reclaiming them from drug dealers who profit from the misery of others.”
FBI Director Patel said “Today, even more criminals are off the streets because of the diligent work of the FBI and our partners. Over 30 people have been charged for their alleged role in drug trafficking and dozens of other offenses.
“These individuals were charged with distributing fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine on one of the most prolific drug blocks in Philadelphia. They were members of a violent drug trafficking organization and used violence to enforce their territory and sell drugs that poison our city streets and community. The FBI will continue our work to put an end to drug trafficking and violence in our cities.”
Kevin Bethel, the Philadelphia Police Commissioner, added, “Today’s actions were the culmination of a deliberate, patient, and highly coordinated investigation into a violent criminal enterprise operating on and around Weymouth Street in Kensington, This group pumped fentanyl into a community already hurting, and they used violence to protect their business. Thank you to our state and federal partners who continue to show up in Philadelphia not as visitors but as teammates: FBI Director Patel, U.S. Attorney Metcalf, FBI Philly SAC Jacobs and his team, the DEA, the Attorney General’s Office, and to our own DC Jim Kelly and the men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department's Narcotics Bureau who did the hard work to get us here.
“This is One Philly in action - exactly the model Mayor Parker has demanded from day one: not turf battles, not silos, but agencies standing shoulder-to-shoulder around a single mission: protecting the people of this city.”
The case is part of PSN Recon, a criminal intelligence program launched this year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The federal and state law enforcement community work together to identify the most violent and dangerous actors in the city of Philadelphia.
PSN Recon builds on the original mission of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (“PSN”) initiative, to collaboratively address violence in partnership with state and local enforcement officials.
I believe utilizing the combined might of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and federal and state prosecutors is the best way to combat violent drug gangs in Philadelphia and across the country.
Notably absent from the takedown and the press conference was Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who is running for reelection next week.
