A Fort Worth kingpin is set to spend the next three decades behind bars after a stern sentence was handed down for running a large-scale drug distribution operation. Alonzo Smith, 29, was slapped with a 30-year federal prison sentence for his criminal endeavors that plagued the streets with narcotics, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Leigha Simonton, announced.
Smith's guilty plea in July admitted to conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute and met the gavel of U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman last Thursday. The case, unfolding since a May 2023 criminal complaint, has now reached partial closure with Smith's sentencing. "Violent gangs that flood our neighborhoods with illicit drugs are a true threat to public safety," Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Dallas Special Agent in Charge Lester R. Hayes, Jr. declared, per the Department of Justice.
Pulling back the curtain on an insidious network, court documents revealed that Smith, among others—most being heavily armed 5x2 Hoova Crip gang members—masterminded multiple drug houses in the Fort Worth area. These hubs were dedicated entirely to the storage and peddling of mass quantities of lethal substances, including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl.
It was during a raid on one of these ill-reputed houses that law enforcement discovered a cache of drugs: 800 grams of methamphetamine, 188 grams of cocaine, nearly half a kilogram of black tar heroin, and enough fentanyl to set off public health alarms—300 grams of it. The collaborative investigation, leading to the takedown of Smith's operation, was a joint mission executed by Homeland Security Investigations and the Fort Worth Police Department, and the case saw formidable prosecution led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith.
