More indicted in federal drug case

Investigation netted 14 arrests last year

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal investigation of a local drug network with suppliers in the Virgin Islands and Detroit that culminated in the indictments of 14 people last summer has led to gun and drug charges against six more people and a new indictment of two others.

The eight, along with two who were already charged, were indicted Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The U.S. attorney’s office announced the case Wednesday.

Acting U.S. Attorney Soo Song said the investigation involved a team effort by her office, the state attorney general and the district attorney’s office.

Indicted in the first case were Angelo Massie, 39, formerly of Penn Hills; Raheem Buchanan, 32, formerly of Pittsburgh; Lamont Butler, 45, formerly of Munhall; Mark Watson, 43, of Pittsburgh; Russell Johnson, 41, of Braddock; Thomas Grace, 33, of McKees Rocks; Jason Green, 35, of Wilkinsburg; and Jermaine Thompson, 31, of Pittsburgh.

Raheem Buchanan and Lamont Butler were already under indictment from a case brought in 2016. Prosecutors added some new charges and the other six defendants in what’s called a superseding indictment.

The grand jury said the eight conspired between November 2015 and September to distribute heroin.

The second indictment charged Robert Fields Jr., 23, of Pittsburgh and Norman Blackwell, 42, formerly of Pittsburgh, with conspiracy to distribute heroin from November 2015 to January 2016.

Prosecutors said the case grew out of a previous investigation of cocaine trafficking from the Virgin Islands to