Federal authorities say they have taken down a group that was bringing $5 to $10 million worth of cocaine into Philadelphia every month through a Mexican cartel.
Gregory Jones, 48, and nine alleged associates were charged in an indictment unsealed this week. Law enforcement seized $17 million worth of cocaine and multiple firearms as part of the operation, officials said.
“Literal truckloads of cocaine have been seized as a result of this case and kept from flooding our city,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said Wednesday. “Know that the investigation is ongoing and there will be more arrests to come."
Jones, a city resident, is accused of arranging shipments that were hidden in tractor-trailers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. He would meet up with drivers in the Philadelphia region and exchange hundreds of thousands of dollars for the bulk cocaine, authorities said.
Once the product was in hand, Jones would split the cocaine with Edward Basley, 47, of Wayne, the indictment states. The pair then distributed the product to lower-level dealers, some of whom have been charged as part of the bust, prosecutors claim.
In an incident detailed in the 25-page indictment, Jones allegedly brought $750,000 to a driver in exchange for multiple kilograms of cocaine.
Jones, in calls with his cartel supplier, utilized a translator and discussed expanding deliveries to Baltimore and Pittsburgh, according to prosecutors.
The illicit business began unraveling in May, when a dealer linked to Basley was arrested and the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped a tractor trailer outside Knoxville. Officers discovered nearly 200 pounds of cocaine bound for Philadelphia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Basley and Jones were arrested in late June, and a few of the other suspects were apprehended over following weeks. FBI agents apprehended five more defendants Tuesday, officials said.
Metcalf told reporters that he believes the case will have a “monumental impact” on the flow of cocaine into the region.
“These are the men who cannot be replaced,” he added. “It is not simply easy to have a relationship with a Mexican cartel member or a source of supply internationally. That takes a great degree of trust. It takes a great degree of confidence. Those types of relationships and that type of infrastructure is difficult to replicate.”
The indictment recounts a conversation between Jones and an unidentified cartel member, during which the latter indicated he was having trouble recruiting drivers. When Jones suggested a candidate, the Mexican supplier said he would need the man’s address. He then tells Jones to instruct the driver that “if he did anything ‘funny or tries to rob them, they will cut his head off.’”
Metcalf described Jones and Basley as professional drug dealers. The pair were convicted of cocaine trafficking in federal court in 2009 and 2007, respectively.
Jones was one of 75 nonviolent drug offenders who had their sentences commuted by President Joe Biden in 2022. Metcalf said Basley secured early release through the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform law signed by President Donald Trump during his first term.
The attorney representing Jones in his active case declined to comment. Basley’s legal representative did not respond to a request for comment.
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