16 "violent individuals" part of drug-trafficking ring "creating fear" in Pittsburgh arrested, FBI says
Sixteen Pittsburgh residents were indicted by a federal grand jury on cocaine trafficking charges, federal officials said.
Law enforcement agencies descended on 10 areas across Pittsburgh on Thursday morning, arresting the 16 people in a major sting operation that the FBI called "Operation Steel Reaper." FBI Pittsburgh said a "violent large-scale drug trafficking operation" in Pittsburgh was dismantled.
"These people were violent individuals," FBI Pittsburgh said in a post on social media. "The impact they had on violence and creating fear was not street level."
In a news release, the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania said the suspects were involved in a cocaine-trafficking ring from November 2025 to around July 2026.
"There are individuals that were arrested today that were manufacturing crack. There are individuals that were arrested today that we previously served search warrants on and were in possession of Glock switches, a trigger that was able to make deadly weapons even more deadly," said Richard Evanchec, special agent in charge of Pittsburgh FBI's field office, during a press conference.
"At the same time, we seized eight firearms, including two AR-style rifles, in addition to 4 kilos of cocaine, significant quantities of suspected heroin, fentanyl and MDMA," Evanchec added.
He emphasized that these are the most violent 15 people in the city, and all but one now face federal charges. This started as an investigation out of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Zone 2's precinct and quickly grew into a federal investigation targeting supply-level narcotic traffickers across the city, primarily in the city's Hill District neighborhood.
DeConta Harrison, Jozef Bozeman, Charles Brannon, Rashaan Campbell, Bobby Chatman, Harold Jones Sr., William Jones, Alonzo Kidd, Greg Nash, Jeff O'Keefe, Keith Payne, Brandon Rodgers, John Malcolm Smith, Tyisha Somerville, Kyrie Weston and Deshawn Williams are facing charges. The defendants range in age from 32 to 65.
