A Minneapolis gang member has copped to slinging fentanyl while toting illegal heat. James Edward Hollman, Jr., a 32-year-old member of the so-called Minneapolis Highs, entered a guilty plea for firearms violations in a federal court on Wednesday, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The confessed felon, already on thin ice with a prior felon-in-possession conviction, apparently didn't learn his lesson. Court documents spill that last March, good old-fashioned police work tipped off investigators about Hollman's hustle – dealing drugs from rental cars with out-of-town plates and packing a firearm to boot. Law enforcement homed in on his Brooklyn Center digs on March 15, 2023, where they found him and decided to swiftly lock him up.

In a cinematic turn, officers discovered Hollman's rental wheels were more 'action movie' than 'drive safe': they pulled out a loaded Glock with a scrubbed-off serial number, and a lazy Susan of a magazine — a 50-round drum. The search wasn't over, as a baggie brimming with 252 blue "M-30" pills boasted of fentanyl, alongside Hollman’s ID from the center console. His apartment yielded an additional 900 bucks in cash.

Hollman's day in court saw him pleading to possession of a firearm by a felon and carrying a said firearm during a drug-trafficking gig. With the gavel yet to fall on his sentencing, the wheels of justice have only begun to, quite literally, turn.

The FBI and the Minneapolis PD led the investigation with some backup – a collaboration that reads like law enforcement who's-who from the ATF to Homeland Security Investigations. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger underscored the bust. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar is on deck for the prosecution, hitting home the fight against the twin scourges of gun violence and opioid abuse.

For more details on this case, visit the U.S. Attorney's Office website.