Two Alleged Boston Gang Members Sentenced for Cocaine Trafficking and Firearm Possession

BOSTON – Two alleged Boston gang members were sentenced this week in federal court in Boston for cocaine conspiracy and firearm charges.

Winston McGhee, 36, of Dorchester, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 115 months in prison, six years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $24,984.

Eric Davis, 37, of Mattapan, was sentenced on Wednesday, June 9, 2020 by Judge Stearns to 105 months in prison, four years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $49,000.

In February 2021, both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In June 2020, Davis and McGhee were charged along with 22 others as part of Operation Snowfall. According to the charging documents, beginning in November 2018, law enforcement conducted an investigation into drug trafficking activities by Boston-based street gang members and associates in the Commonwealth Development in Brighton, Mass., formerly known as Fidelis Way, a multi-apartment public housing development. It is alleged that the defendants, through their drug trafficking activities, assumed control over multiple apartments, where they stored, cooked, packaged and sold drugs. As a result, their activities caused a blight of the development and reduced the quality of life of the other residents.

The investigation also targeted large-scale drug suppliers and their associates. It is alleged that the targets continued to distribute cocaine and cocaine base throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. Davis even traveled to California in April 2020 to try to obtain kilograms of cocaine.

At the conclusion of the investigation, law enforcement executed search warrants at Davis’s residence, a hotel room in Canton where Davis was arrested, McGhee’s residence and  a “stash house” and recovered approximately two kilograms of cocaine, firearms, ammunition and nearly $75,000 in cash.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; John Gibbons, U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Boston Police Acting Commissioner Gregory Long made the announcement. Assistance with the investigation was provided by the Braintree, Cambridge, Canton, Randolph and Weymouth Police Departments; the Suffolk, Norfolk and Bristol County District Attorneys’ Offices; and the Suffolk, Plymouth and Norfolk County Sheriffs’ Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaitlin O’Donnell and Timothy Moran of Mendell’s Organized Crime and Gang Unit prosecuted the case.

The operation was conducted by a multi-agency task force through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply. More information on the OCDETF program is available here: https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.