A federal jury on Friday convicted a Penn Hills man on charges of being a supplier for the Hustlas Don’t Sleep drug ring, a major narcotics network operating in Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs and dismantled by an FBI task force.
The jury deliberated about three hours before finding Jamal Knox, 28, guilty of conspiring to distribute fentanyl. Knox had gone on trial earlier this week before U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway said wiretaps, search warrants and other evidence revealed that Knox was part of the Hustlas gang, run by Robert Howell Jr. of Monroeville, and supplied fentanyl to the gang. Howell, 34, pleaded guilty in March and is awaiting sentencing next month.
An FBI-led team determined Howell oversaw the entire operation, and arranged for large shipments of drugs from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh for sale here.
He and 17 others were indicted in 2019 on charges of distributing drugs in Monroeville, Turtle Creek, Wilkinsburg and McKeesport.
The case began in 2017 when Monroeville police started gathering information about a drug gang operating in their jurisdiction and realized it extended to other communities.
The investigation eventually yielded $130,000 in cash, 410 bricks of heroin and fentanyl, and 21 guns.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
