Black Mafia Family - Operation Motor City Mafia

Operation Motor City Mafia

The investigation into the Black Mafia Family began sometime in the early 1990s, before there was any name to the organization Demetrius and Terry headed. The lead-up to the October 2005 indictments began with a series of large drug seizures and subsequent informant testimonies from BMF members. On October 28, 2003, a 2-year Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation began, coordinated by the DEA's Special Operations Division and codenamed "Operation Motor City Mafia".

On April 11, 2004, BMF courier and high-level distributor Jabari Hayes was pulled over in Phelps County, Missouri along I-44 driving a 40-foot motor home, supposedly for swerving over the fog line. Two suitcases containing approximately 95 kilograms of cocaine and 572 grams of marijuana were found in the back of the motor home after a K-9 unit was alerted to drugs in the vehicle. It was one of the largest drug busts in Missouri history. Three weeks earlier Jabari was pulled over in St. Louis with $600,000 in cash in the trunk.

In mid-September 2004, a wiretap on a low-level crack dealer in Atlanta, Rafael "Smurf" Allison, led an HIDTA task force to a mid-level dealer named Decarlo Hoskins. Hoskins informed them that he had grown up with two brothers, Omari McCree and Jeffrey Leahr, who were BMF members and able to supply multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine regularly. Wiretaps revealed that McCree was a high-level distributor for the organization and was favored by Demetrius. On November 5, 2004, Jeffrey Leahr was pulled over with his girlfriend on I-75 in Atlanta due to the wiretaps. In the back seat was a duffel bag containing 10 kilograms of cocaine. They were released later that day in an attempt by HIDTA to gather more information in regards to their supplier and the organization using wiretaps. McCree and Leahr, then in a large amount debt to BMF for the lost cocaine, went on the run. When McCree was picked up June 8, 2005, he signed a confidential-source agreement and began to describe his role in BMF. He named Demetrius "Big Meech" as the source of the cocaine but indicated that he did not actually pick it up from Big Meech himself. According to McCree, Chad "J-Bo" Brown supplied him with cocaine on behalf of Demetrius. These events and a number of others formed the backbone of the government's case against the two brothers.

Although Omari McCree gave investigators information, he never actually testified against anyone in open court. During trial, the government's star witness was William "Doc" Marshall.

Testimony given during various trials say the organization operated as follows: Demetrius' side of the organization operated five stash houses in the Atlanta area, nicknamed "The Gate", "The Horse Ranch", "Space Mountain", "Bugsy Siegel", and "The Elevator". Approximately every 10 days, vehicles would arrive with 100–150 kilograms of cocaine packed in secret compartments. Workers at the various stash houses were paid to unload the cocaine and place them inside the stash house. Customers who ordered would call in and say they had their vehicle ready (meaning a transportation vehicle to put the narcotics in). Depending on the size of their order, they were directed to a particular stash house where they would pull in, go inside, hand over money in $5,000 bundles. In return, they would receive cocaine in a bag of some sort, open so they could verify they received the correct number of kilograms. The cocaine was usually sold at $20,000 per kilogram. The same trap vehicles would then be filled with cash (the proceeds from drug sales) to be sent back to the Mexican sources of supply.

Workers inside the stash houses had certain duties, such as counting bulk amounts of cash, usually in the millions. Other people were packing the cocaine for arriving customers. BMF also received drugs through large containers at the airport containing 100–150 kilograms of cocaine, which they picked up and delivered to stash houses.