A New Orleans man has entered a guilty plea in federal court for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a massive quantity of cocaine. Derrick Washington, also known by the moniker "Eyes," 53, admitted to his role in a drug trafficking operation that moved multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine throughout the Eastern District of Louisiana, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office on Wednesday.
The case against Washington was built over the course of an investigation helmed by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Pursuing to sever the sprawling tentacles of this drug network, the DEA succeeded in seizing an extensive cache of narcotics: over forty kilograms of cocaine, twelve kilograms of fentanyl, 4.5 kilograms of heroin, and more than $1.2 million in cash and property were confiscated, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Facing the weight of his crimes, Washington now confronts a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, which could extend up to forty years in prison. In addition, he could be fined up to $5 million and must undergo at least four years of supervised release post-imprisonment, on top of a $100 special assessment fee, as reported in the U.S. Attorney's Office.
This prosecution is a fragment of a broader effort led by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which aims to methodically dismantle and disrupt the operations of high-level drug traffickers and criminal organizations posing threats to national security and safety, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces leverages an intelligence-driven, prosecutor-led approach to pool the expertise and resources of various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
The collective force of this investigatory muscle included not just the DEA's New Orleans Field Division Office but also the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, and multiple local law enforcement agencies across several surrounding parishes. Assistant United States Attorney Lynn E. Schiffman of the Narcotics Unit is handling the prosecution.
