Westbank Drug Dealer Sentenced

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that ANDRE ADDISON, age 24, of Avondale, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine base (“crack”).    

U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk sentenced ADDISON to 87 months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.

According to court documents, ADDISON pled guilty to being a member of a twelve defendant offshoot of the larger Harvey Hustlers group that was involved in the distribution of heroin and crack cocaine in the Avondale and Waggaman areas of Jefferson Parish.  ADDISON admitted to acquiring ounce quantities of powder cocaine and then using members of the conspiracy to cook that cocaine into crack, which would then be sold on the streets of Jefferson Parish.  ADDISON’s co-conspirators have admitted their participation in multiple murders and shootings in Jefferson Parish.

This case is a product of an ongoing investigation into the violent acts in furtherance of the drug trafficking by the Harvey Hustler gang and its various offshoots on the West Bank.  It represents the continued coordinated effort of the federal and state law enforcement authorities, including the United States Attorney’s Office, Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans Gang Taskforce, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office, ,and officers of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Greg Kennedy, David Haller, and Myles Ranier and Special Assistant United States Attorney Collin Sims, who is a former Assistant United States Attorney and the Criminal Chief at the St. Tammany Parish District Attorney’s Office, are in charge of the prosecution.