East Orange man indicted, with 14 others, for drug network linked to gun violence

PATERSON, NJ — Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck announced that a state grand jury indicted Shomahree Brown, 37, of East Orange, along with 14 individuals from Paterson, according to an Aug. 11 press release from the N.J. Attorney General’s Office. These 15 defendants are alleged members and associates of a drug ring run by a local set of the Crips who allegedly fueled gun violence involving rival gangs in the section of Paterson where they operated.

The indictment charges 15 members and associates of the “42-50” set of the Crips with first-degree racketeering for allegedly trafficking heroin and crack cocaine in open air drug markets in Paterson. All defendants are charged with second-degree conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and most face other drug charges.

The Division of Criminal Justice’s Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau and the Paterson Police Department Narcotics Unit made most of the arrests in this case in October 2020 after a related drive-by shooting.

When search warrants were executed in Paterson, investigators uncovered a heroin mill where the gang allegedly cut and packaged heroin for sale, as well as a crack-cocaine mill at a second location, and a heroin and cocaine mill inside a residence at a third location. During the investigation, investigators seized more than 21,000 single-dose wax folds of heroin — some of which also contained fentanyl — and more than a kilo of crack-cocaine. The gang is alleged to have been distributing approximately 50,000 doses of heroin and a kilo of crack cocaine per week.

According to law enforcement, heroin seized by detectives and sold by the drug ring was packaged in wax folds stamped with the same brand names that were linked to eight fatal and 14 nonfatal overdoses in New Jersey.

While some defendants were ordered detained in jail pending trial, Brown and the majority of defendants were released subject to monitoring conditions.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty in a court of law.

  Drugs, New Jersey Attorney General