The Black Mafia Family were sentenced in Detroit federal court Friday to 30 years in prison
The leaders of a multi-state cocaine trafficking ring known as the Black Mafia Family were sentenced in Detroit federal court Friday to 30 years in prison, reports the Detroit Free Press.
Brothers Terry Flenory, 38 of Los Angeles and Demetrius Flenory, 40, of Atlanta, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn. Formerly of southwest Detroit. The siblings pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise involving the high volume distribution of cocaine throughout the U.S. from 1990 through 2005.
Authorities said their operation began in Detroit during the early 1990s and eventually expanded to include Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, California and Texas. They used vehicles equipped with secret compartments to transport cocaine and cash.
Since 2000, authorities have seized more than 476 kilograms of cocaine and $5 million in cash. Members of the ring used drug proceeds to buy luxury cars, real estate and jewelry. They also purchased winning Michigan lottery tickets from the real winners to conceal the source of income. Some 65 people have been indicted in the case, including celebrity Manhattan jeweler Jacob Arabov, 43, who was sentenced in Detroit in June to 2-1/2 years in prison and fined $50,000 for lying to federal agents about the true ownership of jewelry seized from the ring.
Most of the defendants have pleaded guilty and half have been sentenced, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The government has seized more than $19 million in assets from ring members, including 13 homes, 35 vehicles, over $5 million in cash, and millions of dollars worth of jewelry.
