A drug dealer connected to a narcotics ring with ties to slain rapper Jimmy Wopo was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison for dealing cocaine and shooting a federal agent.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines imposed that term on Dion Williams, 46, of Uptown. Williams shot Christopher Wiegner, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, during a raid on his house in 2020.
The bullet passed through Wiegner’s shoulder, and he later returned to duty.
Judge Haines sentenced Williams in three cases: the shooting, the drug dealing that led to the raid and violations of his probation from a prior federal drug conviction.
The judge gave him 20 years for the first two and another five for the last. There is no parole in the federal system so Williams will have to serve the whole time, although inmates are eligible to get 54 days per year removed from their sentences if they obey the rules behind bars.
Williams was among a group of drug dealers targeted by the FBI, ATF and other agencies in 2019 focused largely in the Hill District. He was intercepted on wiretaps talking about drug dealing with another member of the network.
The investigation culminated in a sweep by law enforcement on June 18, 2020, when agents arrived at Williams’ house to execute search and arrest warrants.
An ATF tactical unit announced its arrival and then attempted to breach the door. Wiegner, the lead agent on the team, rammed the door. It swung open and then shut again, forcing him to breach it again.
When he got inside, Williams was waiting with a gun and shot him in the shoulder. After the shooting, Williams took his gun apart and tried to hide the parts before agents arrested him.
“This attack on one of our agents illustrates the direct correlation between drug trafficking and firearms violence,” said Eric DeGree, agent in charge of the ATF’s Philadelphia office, which covers Pittsburgh.
FBI Agent Mike Nordwall, who heads the Pittsburgh FBI, said the sentence means Williams “will finally face the consequences for his blatant disregard for our ATF partner and the community.”
The underlying drug case was a multi-defendant investigation of a cocaine ring connected to the 11 Hunnit gang in the Hill District that federal agents say was partly led by Wopo, whose real name was Travon Smart. He was killed in 2018.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
