The last Young Mob defendant in a major Memphis drug case just learned how long he will be sitting in federal prison. On Thursday, April 16, a federal judge sentenced Memphis resident Darius Moore to 210 months behind bars for distributing fentanyl across the Western District of Tennessee, making him the third member of the group to be punished in the case after earlier sentences of 150 months and 51 months.
The hearing took place at the federal courthouse in Memphis, according to Action News 5. The proceeding also appears on the U.S. District Court’s online docket, which lists Moore’s sentencing on the April 16 calendar and notes a related supervised-release violation proceeding tied to the same case, as shown on the U.S. District Court calendar.
Federal Indictment Stretched Across Memphis
Moore’s case stems from a sweeping federal indictment that charged 15 Memphis residents with conspiring to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, along with related firearms offenses and seizures of weapons and large quantities of drugs, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Prosecutors previously described the investigation as targeting a drug network connected to the Young Mob, a point covered in Hoodline’s earlier reporting on the case in 15 indicted in Memphis crackdown.
Legal Context
In arguing for a stiff sentence, prosecutors labeled Moore a career offender, pointing to prior drug convictions from 2005 and 2008 and a 2019 conviction for attempting to sell fentanyl within 1,000 feet of a playground. Action News 5 reports that the judge tacked on another one-year term for a supervised-release violation. The U.S. Sentencing Commission explains that career-offender status usually puts defendants in the highest criminal-history category and bumps up guideline ranges, which goes a long way toward explaining the 210-month sentence Moore received.
What This Means Locally
Federal officials say the sentences handed down to Moore and the two earlier Young Mob defendants take three alleged fentanyl distributors off Memphis streets and fit into a broader, multi-agency push under the Justice Department’s Memphis violent-crime initiative. During the investigation, agents seized firearms, methamphetamine, fentanyl and machine-gun conversion devices, according to the Department of Justice. Court records indicate Moore will stay in federal custody while he awaits designation to a Bureau of Prisons facility, a long federal stretch now officially underway.
