4-Nation, fentanyl, Super Chicken shooting: Crimes overlap in RICO case against Erie gang
The large-scale 4-Nation criminal case in U.S. District Court in Erie centers on allegations of gang-related drug trafficking and violence. The 58-defendant case also overlaps with other criminal activity.
The latest defendant to plead guilty in the 4-Nation case exemplifies the interconnectivity.
The defendant, Tyler D. Magee, has pleaded guilty to a felony count that he conspired to traffic in methamphetamine and fentanyl for about three years, ending in the spring of 2023. The U.S. Attorney's Office put the number of fentanyl pills at 2,000.
Magee entered the plea in federal court. He appeared there as waits to plead guilty in Erie County Common Pleas Court to charges related to two shootings in Erie, including one at a now-defunct downtown nightspot, the Super Chicken Lounge.
Magee, 30, is facing a mandatory minimum term of five years in the 4-Nation case at his sentencing on May 21 before U.S. District Judge Paradise Baxter. The deal in the Common Pleas Court case calls for Magee to get a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison, to start after he serves the federal sentence.
Magee's role in the federal 4-Nation case
Magee was not charged with being a member of 4-Nation. He was charged with conspiring with members of the Erie street gang to sell drugs. He is the 26th person named in the indictment, returned on May 30.
The first 22 defendants are accused of being members of 4-Nation and violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, by participating in gang activity, including drug dealing and violence.
The 36 other defendants, such as Magee, are accused of conspiring with members of 4-Nation.
With his plea in federal court, Magee admitted to conspiring to traffic in illegal drugs with two accused members of 4-Nation, based on what the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers, said at the plea hearing, on Tuesday.
Sellers said Magee supplied 109 fentanyl pills to the eighth-highest ranking member of 4-Nation — according to the federal indictment — who sold the drugs in Erie in late 2022.
That defendant is Marius L. Russell, the first defendant to get sentenced in the 4-Nation case. Russell, 32, known as Gifted, pleaded guilty and received a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison in November.
Two 4-Nation defendants have been sentenced overall but numerous guilty pleas have occurred. Other deals are in negotiations, according to court records.
Also in the Magee case, Sellers said Magee was accused of trafficking in fentanyl and meth with another accused member of 4-Nation, Chikuyo A. Bayete, whom the indictment lists as the gang's 13th-highest member. Bayete has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
Phone taps critical to probe of 4-Nation
The FBI and police used wiretaps to develop a case against Magee and other defendants in the 4-Nation case, the largest-ever criminal case in Erie.
The investigators used intercepted phone calls to link Magee to Russell, Bayete, Sellers said.
He said the wiretapped conversations connected Magee to trafficking in more than 50 grams of meth and a total of 2,000 fentanyl pills. The fentanyl was valued at about $40,000, or about $20 per pill, according the estimates of the U.S. Attorney's Office in fentanyl cases in Erie.
In the 4-Nation probe, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, and other agencies seized 19.2 pounds of meth; 180,018 fentanyl pills; 5.22 kilograms of cocaine, or about 11.5 pounds; 4.9 kilograms of fentanyl powder, or about 11 pounds; 709.5 grams of fentanyl-related drugs, or about 25 ounces; several pounds of marijuana, 33 guns and $235,151 in cash.
As the indictment shows, the U.S. Attorney's Office alleges 4-Nation had a hierarchy and other organizational structure. The gang's accused leader is Davante Q. Jones, 30, known as Smoov. He has pleaded not guilty and is in prison as he awaits prosecution.
Magee also charged in Super Chicken case, other shooting
The Erie County District Attorney's Office is prosecuting two shooting cases against Magee.
He was charged in a shooting near what was the Super Chicken Lounge, at 1015 State St., in the early morning of April 23. A woman was shot in the leg, police said.
At the time, Magee was wanted on charges in a shooting in Erie on March 18. Police accused him of firing at a man in the 1100 block of East 11th Street. No injuries were reported.
Magee was charged with attempted homicide and other counts in both shootings. He reached a deal with the prosecution when he waived both cases to Common Pleas Court at a preliminary hearing in October.
Magee is expected to plead guilty to aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and weapons charges, with a recommended prison sentence of five to 10 years, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Lightner said following the preliminary hearing.
Lightner said the prosecution will ask that the recommended sentence run consecutively to Magee's federal sentence. No plea hearing has been scheduled.
The city ordered the Super Chicken Lounge closed after another shooting, on April 30.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: In 4-Nation gang case, another guilty plea made as Erie crimes overlap
