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FBI wiretaps show Detroit drug ring had grand plans, grave problems

A drug ring headed by Detroiters operated a fentanyl pipeline between Los Angeles and Pennsylvania, according to federal wiretaps that show the group was ruthless, shrewd and consumed by crisis while struggling to perfect their product.

Federal agents toppled the drug ring earlier this month as prosecutors unveiled charges against 19 people, including one of the group’s alleged leaders, Detroiter Christian Frierson, accused of helping fuel the nation’s opioid crisis. Prosecutors said the drug ring had sold fentanyl, oxycodone, heroin, cocaine and crack since August 2023 while preying on poor people in an impoverished part of western Pennsylvania.

Wiretap excerpts and search warrant records obtained by The Detroit News offer a rare look at the inner workings of a complex, large-scale conspiracy involving alleged drug dealers with grand ambitions and grave problems. The documents also reveal the behind-the-scenes drama that preoccupied the ring’s leaders as they struggled to recruit young dealers, expand operations and boost the potency of their fentanyl.

The drug ring used New Castle residents who live in public housing projects and turned the apartments into drug dens, prosecutors said. A search warrant affidavit alleged the drug ring was supplied by several Detroiters, including 55-year-old Dedric Higginbotham, who investigators say was overheard during an intercepted phone call last month talking about creating fentanyl so potent it would trigger overdoses.

“I want to see somebody go down, bro,” Higginbotham said while pushing for the drugs to be stronger. “We need Nitroglycerin.”

The drug ring operated across Metro Detroit: in a Sterling Heights drug den; in a stash house near Interstate 94 and Van Dyke in Detroit where members stored drugs; at Higginbotham’s brick Tudor-style home near Palmer Park; and at accused fentanyl supplier Jermaine Lett’s brick-and-vinyl ranch house in St. Clair Shores.

Co-conspirators would obtain drugs from as far away as Los Angeles and Arizona, and Frierson would transport the cocaine and fentanyl in a Kia Carnival during a 500-mile roundtrip drive between Detroit and New Castle, Penn., according to the FBI. The organization sold drugs out of trap houses while Frierson, known on the streets by the nickname “Juicy,” worked out of a hotel room where the fentanyl was stored before being distributed to other traffickers, according to the government.

FBI agents sought court permission earlier this year to search one dozen locations in Detroit and Pennsylvania.

The Detroit area drug dealers targeted New Castle, a town of 22,000 residents, more than a quarter of whom live in poverty, after learning the average federal prison sentence for drug trafficking convictions was almost 18 months shorter in that part of the Keystone State than compared with Michigan.

Feds: Suspects ‘a close-knit crew’

A judge unsealed a one-count indictment Aug. 1 charging the group with drug conspiracy involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl, five kilograms or more of cocaine, 100 grams or more of heroin, and oxycodone. If convicted, the group faces at least 10 years in federal prison and up to a $10 million fine.

Members of the alleged conspiracy include:

∎ Frierson, 33.

∎ Frierson’s father, Devail Adams, 54, of Oak Park.

∎ Patrick Brown, 32, of Detroit.

∎ Roy Brown, 55, of Westland.

∎ Tyrone Davis, 35, of Detroit.

∎ Higginbotham, 55, of Detroit

∎ Quinten Jones, 38, of Detroit.

∎ Lett, 52, of St. Clair Shores.

“Many of the subjects of the investigation are part of a close-knit crew who are connected through family and friendship and have been convicted of felony crimes in the past,” FBI Special Agent Ryan Chrobak wrote in a search warrant affidavit.

A trial date has not been set. Frierson is scheduled to be arraigned next week in federal court in Pennsylvania. He is being held without bond while Higginbotham was released on $10,000 unsecured bond. Frierson’s father was arrested in South Carolina and has a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday in Pennsylvania.

Lawyers counter feds’ accusations

Frierson’s lawyer, Daniel Reid, downplayed the significance of the wiretaps and the government’s interpretation of conversations intercepted on the wiretaps.

“There is no indication that language that was used was anything that had to do with narcotics or travel or selling of narcotics,” Reid said during an Aug. 5 detention hearing in federal court. “Buying houses or any type of property in another state is not illegal.”

Reid was not alone in challenging the FBI agent’s interpretation of wiretapped conversations.

“That’s for a jury to decide,” Higginbotham’s lawyer, Richard Morgan Jr., said. “I believe that the conversations that he makes reference to can be interpreted in a number of ways.”

He specifically challenged the significance of Higginbotham, saying he wanted “to see somebody go down.”

“That conversation didn’t say anything about fentanyl directly,” Morgan said. ” He said he wanted somebody to fall down — meaning that he wanted the fentanyl to be strong quality. That’s the interpretation I’m referring to.”

He portrayed Higginbotham as a teetotaler and a caregiver with no criminal history.

“He’s on disability,” Morgan told U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Stafford.

“What’s the disability for?” the judge asked.

“A gunshot,” the lawyer said.

What cellphone data showed

The investigation started as far back as January 2023 when an informant charged in a separate case started cooperating with the FBI.

The informant has known Frierson for about 20 years. The informant told investigators Frierson sells large quantities of drugs, including cocaine and fentanyl, and operated out of a Quality Inn in New Castle, 25 miles east of Youngstown, Ohio, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by The News.

Members of the gang sourced drugs in Los Angeles and Arizona and brought them to Detroit and New Castle, prosecutors alleged. Since August 2023, the drug ring imported as much as 176 kilos of cocaine and 22 kilos of fentanyl, according to the informant.

The supply route could be treacherous.

In late March, investigators were tracking Frierson’s cellphone and watched as it traveled to Detroit Metropolitan Airport before pinging in Los Angeles. The trip was not unusual as flight and phone location data showed Frierson had traveled to Los Angeles three times this year.

On March 20, eight days after the phone arrived in Los Angeles, location data showed Frierson’s phone was headed east across the nation’s heartland.

Just after 10:15 p.m., a deputy spotted a Honda Pilot speeding along eastbound I-80 in Omaha, Nebraska. The deputy stopped the SUV and approached the vehicle.

Inside, the deputy found a sweaty Frierson smoking a freshly lit cigarette.

Also inside the SUV was a suitcase. Inside the suitcase was a cardboard box. Inside the cardboard box was a safe and a key.

“The safe contained vacuum-sealed bags containing in excess of 1,000 grams of fentanyl and nearly 250 grams of heroin,” the FBI agent wrote.

Probe intensifies after arrest

Overdose deaths in the U.S. are primarily driven by synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. There were more than 81,800 opioid-involved overdose deaths in 2022, up 64% from five years ago.

That increase is driven largely by illicitly manufactured fentanyl — one product that FBI investigators said was on the Frierson drug ring menu.

Frierson “accepted responsibility for everything in the vehicle, but denied knowledge of what the white powdery substance was,” the FBI agent wrote. “He claimed that he found the box but did not provide a location where he found it.”

Frierson was charged with drug crimes after the Nebraska arrest and released on bond.

“He promptly started drug trafficking again,” the agent wrote.

The federal investigation intensified after Frierson’s arrest. Starting in early May, investigators obtained court approval to tap several phones, including ones used by Frierson, his father and Higginbotham.

The wiretaps were productive immediately.

On May 9, the first day agents started intercepting conversations, Frierson’s dad was heard complaining about a low drug supply.

“Aye, s—. We out right now…,” Adams said. “You know it ain’t gonna be for long though!”

The same day, Frierson called Higginbotham, checking on when to expect a new drug supply, the FBI agent wrote.

“S—,” Higginbotham said, “hopefully, I’ll be down there in a couple days.”

“S—,” Frierson said. “I’m waitin’ on you!”

The next day, Frierson and Higginbotham spoke again. Frierson was concerned about losing customers and market share, according to the affidavit.

“This s— is about to happen,” Higginbotham said.

Worried about labor woes

On May 11, the wiretaps captured Frierson complaining about labor woes, according to the government. Frierson said he had resorted to hiring addicts to staff the drug ring’s trap houses in New Castle and needed better quality workers.

“I was losing money, everything I got,” he said. “I had friends over there working.”

Meanwhile court records showed investigators obtained a judge’s authorization to raid at least five locations on the east side of New Castle, including homes used by Frierson and his father.

In early June, a wiretap recorded Higginbotham talking with another man about the difficulty recruiting young Detroiters to move to New Castle and sell drugs.

“Damn, man, I got this s— set up now, man, ready to go,” Higginbotham told the man.

The difficulties came at a busy time for Frierson. On June 10, his girlfriend was in the hospital about to give birth to their child when Higginbotham called, complaining about acquiring and preparing new trap houses, including a demand for a deposit for lights.

“I’m like, damn, that some hoe s—, bro,” Higginbotham said.

Frierson was focused on expanding the drug ring’s reach by establishing trap houses in nearby towns, including Ellwood City, the FBI agent wrote.

One wiretap excerpt, however, showed Frierson and Higginbotham talking about standing out in Ellwood, a city of approximately 7,400 people that included only 113 African Americans, according to the 2020 Census.

“It’s nice through there — you seen it?” Frierson asked.

“Man,” Higginbotham said, “that s— is all white, bro.”

Scouting public housing

Later in the conversation, Higginbotham talked about scouting public housing projects in New Castle for new customers and drug distribution locations, the FBI agent wrote.

“You can’t get up in them projects unless you got somebody on welfare or somethin’,” Higginbotham said.

He talked about finding low-income people to exploit so the drug ring could infiltrate New Castle housing projects, the FBI agent wrote.

“I got people in every projects (sic) down there,” Frierson said. “You can’t be riding in the projects, there’s cameras everywhere.”

Higginbotham agreed and warned Frierson that he likely was already under investigation, according to the search warrant affidavit.

“Man…that’s why I say, man, you crazy thinking them mother——- ain’t on you,” Higginbotham said “And you riding Detroit plates.”

One recorded conversation captured Frierson and Higginbotham discussing “sweet deals” for drug dealers convicted of state charges in western Pennsylvania. The shorter sentences, Frierson said, were given out in federal court, too.

“Even the feds don’t hang you, though, dog,” Frierson said.

Finding lower drug sentences

Frierson’s analysis was accurate.

From 2015-23, the average federal sentence for trafficking cocaine, crack, heroin and fentanyl in western Pennsylvania was 63 months in prison, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. That’s below the national average (69 months) and the average sentence in Michigan (80 months) during that time.

“Don’t make no sense to go back home, man,” Frierson said about Detroit. “Streets paved in gold down this mug, man.”

Higginbotham agreed about the area’s potential — as long as they recruited some White co-conspirators, the FBI agent wrote.

Higginbotham’s enthusiasm was evident on the wiretap, the FBI agent noted.

“Man, you watch what’s about to happen…,” Higginbotham said.

Big problems were ahead.

On June 16, Higginbotham and Frierson were recorded on a wiretap talking about how to salvage a bad batch of crack cocaine, the FBI agent wrote.

They traded ideas for improving the taste. Higginbotham asked about adding Sprite to the recipe.

Try Casamigos tequila, Frierson said.

“Definitely will change the taste for sure,” Frierson said, “if it’s the taste.”

Higginbotham called a colleague, the FBI agent wrote.

“Man, put some Casamigos,” he said. “…That’ll change it.”

“Migos, allright,” the colleague said.

Agents obtained text messages that showed Frierson’s father, Adams, complaining about expenses and a lower-level member of the alleged drug conspiracy failing to deliver drug money.

“You ain’t brung me one nickel of my cheese…,” Adams texted.

Adams, known on the streets as “Pops,” is portrayed by the FBI as an opportunistic predator.

Leveraging poverty

In one recorded conversation, an accused co-conspirator, Kendra Sager, 32, of New Castle told Adams about a friend.

“She’s by herself, her kid’s in jail. She literally has no money, no income,” said Sager, according to the affidavit.

“She need us, man!” Adams said.

“The rest of the conversation between Adams and (the co-conspirator) demonstrates the lengths to which members of the (drug trafficking organization) will go to exploit desperate people so (they) can, among other things, hide behind them and sell narcotics from their residences,” wrote Chrobak, the FBI agent.

Frierson is not a threat to the public, his lawyer said in court Aug. 5 after his client’s arrest.

“He understands, completely, that if he steps on a crack…this court can…draw him back in,” Reid said.

Stafford, the magistrate judge, refused to let Frierson leave jail, noting he has charges pending in Nebraska and Pennsylvania.

“The fact that he is charged in an indictment now with committing drug-trafficking crimes while he’s already on bond … he cannot rebut the presumption that he will do the same thing again,” Stafford said.

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@robertsnellnews

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