A 32-year-old Pittsburgh woman has been locked up for her role in a violent South Side drug ring tied to the Darccide/Smash 44, or DS44, gang. April Price was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and slapped with three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady.
U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman, IV handed down the sentence after evidence revealed Price’s deep involvement in the DS44 gang’s narcotics pipeline. Federal investigators tied her to distributor-level drug conversations with high-ranking co-defendants Anthony Jetter and Christopher Highsmith. Wiretaps from a court-authorized February to June 2019 surveillance operation captured Price arranging bulk shipments of heroin and fentanyl.
Price wasn’t just talking—she was moving dope. On April 25, 2019, pole camera footage caught her conducting a hand-to-hand transaction at a known stash house in the South Side. The exchange, documented by law enforcement, sealed her guilt. As part of her guilty plea entered on February 12, 2020, Price admitted responsibility for distributing 60 grams of heroin and fentanyl.
The investigation, led by the FBI’s Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force, targeted the DS44 gang’s grip on narcotics and firearms trafficking in one of the city’s most troubled zones. The probe pulled in multiple agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Allegheny County Police; Pittsburgh Bureau of Police; and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics, among others.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christy C. Wiegand and Brendan McKenna prosecuted the case with a focus on dismantling the gang’s network from the inside out. The prosecution highlighted how wire intercepts and surveillance footage painted an undeniable picture of Price’s role in sustaining the drug trade that has fueled violence and addiction in Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
This case was prosecuted under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, the Justice Department’s primary weapon against major drug trafficking syndicates. By pooling federal, state, and local resources, OCDETF operations like this one aim to rip out the roots of entrenched criminal enterprises—starting with convictions like April Price’s.
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Key Facts
- State: Pennsylvania
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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