Jury finds members of violent Third World Mob gang guilty of trafficking more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal jury has convicted two members of the Third World Mob gang with conspiring to traffic more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana. Third World Mob is a violent criminal organization in Columbus.

After an 8-day trial before U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., jurors deliberated for less than six hours before finding Klegewerges Abate, 35, and Abubakarr Savage, 34, both of Columbus, guilty on all counts.

Abate, who is also known as “Bells,” “Robell” and “Sosa,” was convicted of conspiring to traffic at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, firearms offenses, and wire fraud related to illegally obtaining COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.

Savage was charged with and convicted of conspiring to distribute at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. Savage is also known as “Sav” and “Savdripp.”

According to court documents and trial testimony, Third World Mob members brought hundreds of pounds of marijuana into Ohio from other states like California and Georgia to sell in central Ohio. They used U-Haul trucks and rental cars to move the drugs.  Coconspirators used rental houses or houses leased or owned in other individuals’ names as “stash houses” or “trap houses” to facilitate the drug trafficking and to store significant amounts of cash from the drug proceeds.

For example, in August 2019, Abate and others possessed a suitcase with approximately $940,000 in cash in it in a house on Phlox Avenue in Blacklick.

During a November 2022 search of a residence on Chapel Stone Road in Blacklick, law enforcement officials found Abate and two of his co-conspirators, along with more than 700 kilograms of marijuana and three firearms.

Third World Mob leaders and members used violence and the threat of violence to maintain authority over their drug trafficking.

Surveillance video presented at trial showed Abate, a convicted felon, shooting a man at a restaurant in Columbus. Jurors also heard testimony about numerous shootings, a pistol-whipping, and other acts of intimidation.

Abate was also convicted of wire fraud for falsely applying for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, fraudulently claiming that he had been a self-employed landscaper during the time he trafficked drugs.

In total, seven members of the Third World Mob have been charged federally since 2021. Fellow member Menelik Solomon pleaded guilty in November 2023 and was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. Coconspirator Teddy Asefa entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and wire fraud just prior to trial. Another defendant stood trial with Abate and Savage and was acquitted of the single obstruction of justice charge against him.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Orville O. Greene, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Detroit; and Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin announced the verdict. U.S. Attorney Parker recognized the assistance from the Columbus, Whitehall and Tucson, Arizona, police departments and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth A. Geraghty and S. Courter Shimeall represented the United States in this case.

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