Police have dismantled a drug ring in the Gay Street neighborhood through charges against seven men they described as “key members” of the trafficking group, Baltimore officials said Thursday.
The investigation, which began in January and resulted in seven men being indicted in February and March on drug charges, centered on what authorities described as an “open-air drug market” in the 900 block of North Broadway. Three of the seven pleaded guilty Monday to drug possession and distribution charges, and one was scheduled for a plea hearing in late August.
At a Thursday news conference, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and other city law enforcement officials touted the results of the probe as successes of the city’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy, which they said led authorities to focus on the block following multiple shootings in the area. The antiviolence program launched by Scott’s administration in 2022 with a pilot in the Western District expanded this January into the Central District, where the block is located.
None of the seven men were ultimately charged with violent offenses, though two face charges for firearms found at residences searched by police. Jennifer Brady, who leads the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office’s Narcotics Division and is prosecuting the cases, said at the news conference that her office was not at liberty to discuss any ongoing investigations regarding acts of violence or whether any of the seven men were believed to be involved in them.
Scott maintained that the seven men charged “actively inflicted harm on our communities” through carrying illegal guns, distributing drugs and “driving violent activity” in the neighborhood. He noted that incarceration is “actually a last resort” for his administration’s antiviolence strategy, which focuses on identifying those most likely to be involved in gun violence and providing them with positive opportunities. The strategy appears to be linked to a notable decline in city homicides in recent years.
Thursday’s announcement was “not a reason for celebration,” said Stefanie Mavronis, who leads the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. Mavronis said at the news conference that her office, which helps implement the city’s antiviolence strategy, is carrying out a neighborhood stabilization response in the community surrounding the North Broadway block.
Brady said investigators witnessed the trafficking group making drug exchanges, specifically cocaine and cannabis, on a near-daily basis at the street level. That led to an initial slate of charges against the seven men, who Deputy State’s Attorney Tom Donnelly said were “key members” running the organization who were distinguished from street-level dealers. Those indictments were superseded with new charges after authorities searched five residences in connection with the investigation and located more drugs as well as firearms.
Two of the seven defendants pleaded guilty Monday in Baltimore Circuit Court to misdemeanor drug charges and received probationary sentences. Brady said those defendants, ages 24 and 26, had agreed to participate in the antiviolence program Roca as part of their probation terms. A third defendant, a 34-year-old, pleaded guilty to a felony drug possession charge and received a five-year sentence suspended down to one year of jail time.