Steven Williams, Narcotics Trafficking, New York 2017

NEW YORK, NY – Steven Williams, 46, of New York, was found guilty Friday of running a cross-country narcotics operation, flooding New York City streets with massive quantities of heroin and cocaine. The conviction follows a one-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, bringing an end to a scheme that spanned nearly seven years.

Federal prosecutors revealed Williams wasn’t dealing dope out of a street corner. He masked his criminal enterprise with a legitimate-seeming music business, using it as a cover to ship multi-kilogram quantities of drugs across the country. The operation, active between 2009 and August 2015, funneled over 100 kilograms of cocaine and more than 40 kilograms of heroin from California to the Big Apple.

The contraband wasn’t shipped in duffel bags or hidden on bodies. Williams and his co-conspirators were far more sophisticated. They concealed the heroin and cocaine within everyday industrial equipment – speakers, amplifiers, and even copy machines – before sending them via freight shipping companies. This allowed them to bypass initial scrutiny and get the drugs into the city, where they could be distributed for profit.

“As the jury swiftly found, Steven Williams used his music business as a front to traffic in massive quantities of cocaine and heroin,” stated Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “For pumping 100 kilograms of cocaine and more than 40 kilograms of heroin into New York City streets, Williams now stands convicted of federal narcotics conspiracy.” The conviction is a significant win for a multi-agency task force dedicated to dismantling large-scale drug rings.

The investigation, led by the DEA’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, involved a broad coalition of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the NYPD, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and even the U.S. Secret Service. The Strike Force is partially funded by the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program, a federally-funded initiative aimed at combating drug trafficking.

Williams now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. However, the potential sentence could stretch to life behind bars. The final decision rests with Judge Schofield, who will determine Williams’ fate at a sentencing hearing, the date of which has not yet been scheduled. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebekah Donaleski and Lara Pomerantz are prosecuting the case.

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