12 charged in federal takedown of group that pumped guns and drugs into Fairhill and Kensington

Federal authorities on Thursday announced charges against 12 alleged members of a drug trafficking organization they blamed for injecting “a staggering amount” of fentanyl and firearms into North Philadelphia neighborhoods over the last year.

The group’s leaders — Wilfredo Avila, 30 — operated at last 14 stash houses across Fairhill, Kensington, and other parts of North Philadelphia between February 2023 and May of this year. They carried out drug deals in residential neighborhoods and often feet from the nearby Luis Munoz Marin Elementary School, prosecutors said.

In addition to the drugs, Avila and other members of his organization are accused of selling dozens of firearms, including shotguns, ghost guns, and rifles, to their drug-using customers as a way of buying their loyalty and continued business.

Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized more than 57 firearms, more than 50,000 doses of fentanyl and more than four pounds of cocaine in a series of coordinated raids that led to the arrests of Avila and nine other members of the organization last week.

“The [drug trafficking organization] made large sums of money and protected its operations by selling drugs, carrying and using firearms, engaging in acts of intimidation and threats, even against the organization’s own members,” prosecutors said in recent court filings. It “was exceptionally skilled at recognizing and calling out surveillance from law enforcement, making their illicit actions more difficult to detect.”

The dismantling of Avila’s alleged network comes amid a wider push by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, the city’s police and their state and federal law enforcement partners to more strictly enforce drug laws in the Kensington neighborhood, home to one of the nation’s largest open-air drug markets and an area hard hit by intractable twin scourges of addiction and gun violence.

Avila and his codefendants contributed to both, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said as she unveiled the 54-count federal indictment against them Thursday morning at a news conference in Center City.

“What is the impact?” she asked, responding to questions about the significance of the arrests. “We’re going to see on the daily. I think the people of Kensington will be able to speak to that. But this is a fairly significant takedown.”

» READ MORE: Dozens of new police will soon be deployed to Kensington, and stricter drug enforcement will begin in mid-June

The investigation that led to the organization’s dismantling began, Romero said, with intelligence from beat cops who regularly patrol the neighborhood and who reported on what they were encountering on the streets.

For 18 months, Philadelphia police and ATF agents surveilled the network and oversaw dozens of controlled buys using confidential informants, including one who was posing as a fellow drug dealer.

The probe, detailed in government court filings, revealed Avila to be a savvy businessman with a tight grip on his organization. His network was so efficient, prosecutors said, that he was able to go on vacation for a month in 2023, leaving his 59-year-old mother-in-law, Zaida Diaz, to oversee operations while he was gone. According to investigators, the group’s illegal business continued without interruption until his return.

ATF agents believe Avila procured many of the firearms he sold over social media and with the assistance of his cousin Alexander Roman Delgado, 33, who they say served as both the organization’s primary gun trafficker and muscle for the network during its illegal transactions with customers.

» READ MORE: Gun violence was more heavily concentrated in Kensington than almost anywhere else in the U.S. during the pandemic, NYT finds

Several of the firearms they sold were later recovered from crime scenes in Kensington, prosecutors said in court filings. But at her news conference Thursday, Romero did not identify any specific shootings they may have been used in, citing ongoing investigations.

“Ultimately, I hope this takedown underscores the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s commitment to tackling the duel and deadly threats of narcotics and firearms and to holding the perpetrators accountable,” she said.

Avila and his codefendants face significant prison terms should they be convicted on the counts of conspiracy, drug distribution, and gun trafficking with which they are charged in the indictment.

Four of them, including Avila and Delgado, face charges under a relatively new federal law that criminalizes transporting guns with the intent that they’ll later be used to commit crimes.

That law — passed with bipartisan support in Congress in 2022 — makes the offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Avila’s prosecution is the first time federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have pursued a conviction under the charge.

Attorneys for Avila, Delgado, and Diaz did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday. Avila, Delgado, and six other members of the group remain in custody, without bail, after detention hearings held in federal court earlier this week. Two members, including Diaz, have been released pending trial.

Of the remaining two charged, one is in custody awaiting transfer to Philadelphia and another — Ahmed Perez, 28 — remains a fugitive, Romero said.