Leader Of One Of Newark’s Largest Open-Air Drug Markets And Last Of 26 Defendants Sentenced To 168 Months’ Imprisonment

NEWARK, N.J. – a Newark, New Jersey man was sentenced today for his role as the leader of an expansive drug trafficking organization that distributed significant quantities of drugs and used firearms to protect their drug operation in Newark, New Jersey, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna announced.

Shaheed Blake, a/k/a “Sha Gotti,” a/k/a “Sha,” a/k/a “Bruh,” 41, was sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment followed by 5 years’ supervised release by U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin in Newark, New Jersey.  He was the last among his 25 co-defendants to be sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark. 

Blake’s 25 conspirators were previously sentenced as follows:

• Anderson Hutchinson was sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment;
• Jabaar Blake was sentenced to 163 months’ imprisonment;
• Jason Colon was sentenced to 144 months’ imprisonment;
• Keyenn Rodgers was sentenced to 150 months’ imprisonment;
• William Teal was sentenced to 132 months’ imprisonment;
• Brian White was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment;
• Todd Garrett was sentenced to 84 months’ imprisonment;
• Anthony Bowens was sentenced to 88 months’ imprisonment;
• Dorrell Blake was sentenced to 84 months’ imprisonment;
• Daquan Lockhart was sentenced to 90 months’ imprisonment;
• Aldoray McClain was sentenced to 72 months’ imprisonment;
• Sharif Davis was sentenced to 72 months’ imprisonment;
• Roger Thomas was sentenced to 70 months’ imprisonment;
• Lamont Pugh was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• David Rogers was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Hanif Yarrell was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Aaron Watson was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Marquise O’Neal was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Jaleel Metz was sentenced to 66 months’ imprisonment;
• Bernard Brown was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Jesse Scott was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Rasheem Langley was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Shadesasha Ford was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;
• Linwood Lyles was sentenced to 42 months’ imprisonment; and
• Andrew Knox was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment.

This case was the result of a long-running wiretap investigation led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Newark Police Department.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Defendants were members and associates of a Bloods-affiliated gang that called itself the “CKarter Boys,” a play on “the Carter”—the name of the drug distribution building in the 1991 film New Jack City.  As Bloods members, the CKarter Boys used the letters “CK” to signify “Crip Killer,” a sign of disrespect to their rival street gang, the Crips.

The investigation revealed that the organization’s leaders—Blake and Anderson Hutchinson, a/k/a “Murda Rah”—operated a massive drug market that flooded the streets of Newark with heroin and crack cocaine 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Blake, Hutchinson, and members of their organization sold heroin and crack cocaine to customers out of two neighboring houses near the Newark-Irvington border.  These drug dens were located in the heart of a residential community, just two blocks from the Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, a public school serving children from Pre-K to Fifth Grade.  On average, just one of these locations, which Blake controlled, generated approximately $10,000 per day in revenue from narcotics sales, and, on at least one occasion, revenue exceeded $13,000 in a single shift.

One of the abandoned residences was virtually impenetrable due to the organization’s efforts to fortify the structure by boarding up all doors and windows. The defendants gained access to the residence through a second-floor window by way of a ladder that conspirators then brought inside the residence.  Once inside the abandoned residence, the defendants would sell heroin and crack cocaine through a small hole that was cut out on a first-floor outer wall, allowing customers to purchase narcotics in exchange for cash, similar to a restaurant’s drive-through window.  In a backyard shed, the defendants stored narcotics, a communal cell phone that was used to operate the business, multiple firearms, and several boxes of ammunition.

The investigation resulted in charges against 26 defendants, including Blake, two other leaders, middlemen who assisted with transporting drugs and drug proceeds, distributors, and suppliers.

Acting U.S. Attorney Khanna credited special agents of ATF, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge L.C. Cheeks, Jr. in Newark, and members of the Newark Department of Public Safety, under the direction of Director Emanuel Miranda, with the investigation. He also thanked the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, the New Jersey State Police, the Irvington Police Department, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, the Belleville Police Department, the West Orange Police Department, the Livingston Police Department, the Nutley Police Department, the Orange Police Department, and the Verona Police Department.

The CKarter Boys were prosecuted as part of the Newark Violent Crime Initiative (“VCI”).  The VCI was formed in August 2017 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, and the City of Newark’s Department of Public Safety for the sole purpose of combatting violent crime in and around Newark.  As part of this partnership, federal, state, county, and city agencies collaborate and pool resources to prosecute violent offenders who endanger the safety of the community.  The VCI is composed of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the ATF, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New Jersey Division, the U.S. Marshals, the Newark Department of Public Safety, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, New Jersey State Parole, the Essex County Correctional Facility, New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center, New Jersey Department of Corrections, the East Orange Police Department, and the Irvington Police Department.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace, Chief of the Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Olta Bejleri and Jake A. Nasar of the Criminal Division in Newark.

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