Locked up but not stopped: Georgia prisoners run drug-trafficking networks

Editor’s note: This story was updated in August 2024 to include information on several additional drug trafficking networks prosecuted in 2023-2024.

When federal prosecutors announced their massive Operation Ghost Busted case, the charges revealed a startling reality: the massive drug trafficking operation had a home base inside Georgia’s state prison system.

The operation ran illegal drugs across 10 counties in South Georgia and inside state prisons in a case that is believed to be the largest ever in Georgia’s Southern District. One of the masterminds was James D. NeSmith, who helped orchestrate the operation despite being behind bars while serving a life sentence for murder. Others serving time in Georgia’s prisons and a corrupt correctional officer were also part of the operation, according to the federal charges.

While “Ghost Busted” was a record-setting case, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found it is just one of many large, complex drug trafficking operations that authorities said were run by Georgia prison inmates, often with the help of prison employees. From 2015 to 2024, the AJC found, prosecutors have filed 28major cases involving drug trafficking operations run from inside more than two dozen Georgia state correctional facilities.

Above: In December of last year, federal prosecutors charged 76 defendants, many of them white supremacists, in an alleged drug network that operated across several state prisons in Georgia. Among the defendants were seven who were already incarcerated: (top row) Terry L. Cason II, Skyler Drawdy, Laura R. Harden and Kenneth W. Lane; (bottom row) Timothy W. Loper, Justin W. McGhee and James D. Nesmith. All entered guilty pleas. (Georgia Department of Corrections)

The drug operations can empower prisoners, who get rich from the schemes and can bribe officers to either bring in phones or drugs or become part of the operations that often have ties to violence or fatal overdoses inside and outside state prisons. The cases also underscore the pervasive gang activity in the state’s prisons.

These are the 28 cases.

August 2024 (Operation Night Drop)

Smith, Telfair, Macon and Georgia Diagnostic and Classification state prisons and other facilities.

Investigators identified two networks of prison inmates who worked with outside conspirators to deliver contraband including marijuana, methamphetamine and cellphones. The conspiracies began as early as 2019 and continued through July 2024, the indictments say, and relied on drones to deliver the contraband. One indictment charges 15 people with conspiracy, all but four of them current or former Georgia Department of Corrections prisoners. The second indictment charges eight people, five of them current or former prisoners.

March 2024 (Operation Skyhawk)

Calhoun, Hays, Hancock, Telfair, Valdosta, Ware and Wilcox state prisons.

The state announced that 150 people were arrested after a massive investigation into contraband at prisons around the state. Two schemes were discovered, investigators said. One allegedly was a “sophisticated, multistate criminal enterprise” operated by inmates, involving GDC staff and civilians and relying on drones. Contraband seized included marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy, cocaine and weapons. Among those accused of racketeering and other offenses are Valdosta inmate Joseph “Lil Joe” Broxton and Gwinnett drone shop owner Robert Schwartz. Georgia prison officials were in the midst of that complex investigation when they stumbled upon another drug scheme they said was led by Valdosta State Prison inmate Kydetrius Thomas and aided by at least six correctional officers. According to arrest warrants, the officers were engaged in various illegal activities on Thomas’ behalf, including smuggling drug-soaked paper, pills and tobacco. Few other details of the two investigations had been released as of August 2024.

November 2023

Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Telfair, Ware and Washington state prisons

For more than a decade, members of the Sex Money Murder gang and their associates carried out a series of murders, assaults, fraud and drug-trafficking operations, according to a 12-count federal indictment against 23 defendants. Eleven of the defendants were incarcerated the time of their alleged crimes, prosecutors said, and three were correctional officers. The defendants are accused of distributing illicit drugs inside and outside the Georgia prison system and orchestrating the murders of four people. Numerous charges in the indictment relate to other violence in the Georgia prison system, including multiple stabbings and beatings. The lead defendant in the case is Ryan Brandt, who was sentenced by a Gwinnett County judge in 2007 to a then-record seven life sentences for a violent home invasion and other crimes.

April 2023 (Operation Krack the Ice)

Smith State Prison, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison

Spalding County prosecutors announced that 34 people, including 10 GDC inmates, had been indicted after a investigation involving gangs, drugs and organized crime in several Georgia counties. The investigation began in late 2020 when the GBI Gang Task Force, GDC and Homeland Security Investigations determined that Chad Ashley Allen, who was serving a life sentence for murder at Georgia State Prison, was coordinating with members of the Ghostface Gangsters to operate a drug-trafficking enterprise from the prison. From April 2014 to September 2022, gangs distributed methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin and other drugs in coordination with criminal street gang members and associates, the GBI said. Allen allegedly obtained the drugs from Mexican drug trafficking organizations and then recruited street-level distributors.

December 2022 (Operation Ghost Busted)

Telfair, Johnson, Dooly and Valdosta state prisons, Coffee Correctional Facility, Emanuel Women’s Facility and Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison

Prosecutors said inmates were involved in a drug network that operated for years in southeast Georgia, distributing meth, heroin, fentanyl and other drugs. The drugs resulted in at least three overdose deaths, prosecutors said. Overall, the federal investigation — dubbed Operation Ghost Busted — led to charges against 76 defendants, many of them affiliated with white supremacist gangs. Among those indicted were seven people already in prison at the time of the indictment and one correctional officer. All entered guilty pleas.

Credit: Michael Hall / The Brunswick News

July 2022

Calhoun State Prison

While serving an right-year state prison sentence for drug trafficking, Pedro Barragan Valencia brokered the distribution of at least 250 kilograms of meth, federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment unsealed this month. The indictment also accused 21 other men and women of trafficking meth, heroin, fentanyl and other drugs in middle Georgia. In December 2023, Valencia, a member of the Surenos gang, was sentenced to 400 months in prison on the federal charges. Four of Valencia’s co-defendants in the case had previously served state prison sentences in Georgia.

June 2022

Calhoun, Pulaski, Floyd and Dooly state prisons and Ware County and Brantley County detention centers

Prosecutors say prisoners led a drug ring that operated in at least seven Georgia counties as far back as 2018. Leading it was Jonathan Alvin Pope, a Calhoun inmate. Thirteen others were indicted, and seven of them were also incarcerated in Georgia prisons. They used contraband cellphones and other devices to coordinate the network, which distributed meth, heroin and fentanyl, according to Justice Department officials. Pope, who was serving time for possession with intent to distribute meth and marijuana, pleaded guilty in May. He was sentenced in September 2023 to 20 years in federal prison.

April 2022

Dooly State Prison

Inmate Magnum Jelani Neely used contraband cellphones to lead a drug ring in the Augusta area. The phone allowed him to contact drug couriers to deliver meth to buyers inside and outside Georgia prisons. In January, he was sentenced to 278 months in federal prison after pleading guilty. Three co-defendants also pleaded guilty.

October 2021

Jenkins Correctional Facility

While he was a GDC inmate, Alfonso Roman Brito, AKA “Casper,” was coordinating the shipments of meth from the Atlanta area into western North Carolina. Between 2019 and fall 2021, prosecutors said, Brito orchestrated the delivery of more than 100 kilograms of meth. He was found guilty by a federal jury in North Carolina.

September 2021

Calhoun and Augusta state prisons

Two inmates were directing a heroin and meth trafficking network. Eric Gilbert, who was serving time for meth trafficking at Calhoun, was sentenced to 228 months in federal prison, and Joseph Collins, who was incarcerated at Augusta State Medical Prison and had a 2012 conviction for manufacturing meth, was sentenced to 240 months. Each had pleaded guilty.

May 2021

Hancock and Rogers state prisons, Burrus Correctional Training Center

Four prisoners directed a complex drug-trafficking organization that sold meth and murdered a man at a Cherokee County hotel in 2020. The inmates — members of the Ghost Face Gangsters and the Surenos gangs already serving time for drug trafficking — connected street-level dealers with drug cartels, according to the Cherokee County indictment. Jeremiah Glenn Barber, who had been at Rogers and Burrus, was sentenced to 15 additional years in prison; Francisco Javier De La Cruz, who had been at Hancock, was sentenced to serve eight years; Jose Lara Jimenez, who had been at Rogers, was sentenced to serve 20 years; and Eric Joseph Neal, who had been at Hancock, was sentenced to serve three years. Twelve others pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial in the case.

MORE ON THE SERIES

This story is the second installment in an ongoing series about Georgia’s prison system. For more:

Overdosed: Drug deaths soar at Georgia prisons

June 2020

Dooly and Washington state prisons

Inmates Carmelo Reyes-Lozano and Bautista Toledo-Ramirez led a drug ring that distributed meth in metro Atlanta. After authorities intercepted communications between the inmates, they raided a drug house in Clayton County and found 588 kilograms of meth and 100 gallons of liquid meth. At least a dozen others were involved in the trafficking ring, authorities said. Both inmates pleaded guilty. Reyes-Lozano, who had a prior conviction for trafficking meth, was sentenced to 17 years, six months in prison; Toledo-Ramirez, who was serving a sentence for felony murder, was sentenced to 23 years.

May 2020 (Operation Sandy Bottom)

Coffee Correctional Facility and Wheeler and Dooly state prisons

Aided by Georgia state correctional officers, inmates helped operate a drug trafficking network that controlled multiple “trap houses” and distributed meth, cocaine and other drugs in several parts of Georgia. At least three Georgia state correctional officers were accused of working with gang members to smuggle contraband and illegal drugs to inmates. All told, 48 people were charged in what investigators called Operation Sandy Bottom. Prosecutors said that leading the conspiracy was Dooly inmate Jackie Kavaskia McMillan, who was serving a sentence for murder. In 2022, he was sentenced to 444 months in federal prison for his role in the drug network.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

May 2020 (Operation Wu Block)

Wilcox State Prison, Wheeler Correctional Facility, Jenkins Correctional Facility, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison

A two-year investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI led to criminal charges against 82 people and seizures of kilos of meth and heroin. At least four Georgia inmates were among those charged. Frankie Baza, of Gwinnett, serving a 25-year sentence for trafficking meth at Wilcox State Prison, pleaded guilty in February 2021 to conspiring to distribute meth from prison and was later sentenced to 200 months in federal prison. Malcody Dinges, serving a sentence at Wheeler after pleading guilty to trafficking meth and assault on a peace officer, used contraband cellphones to direct others where to obtain meth in Atlanta and bring it to Athens for distribution. He was sentenced in May 2022 to 240 months in federal prison. David “Toro” Zavala, of Gordon County, serving a sentence at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison for armed robbery, was also indicted. Court documents show that at the time of Zavala’s guilty plea, officers had seized 35 cellphones from him. In October 2023, Zavala was sentenced to 330 months in federal prison. Bruce “Bruno” Hicks, of Athens, in Jenkins Correctional Facility for drug trafficking, was sentenced in January 2020 to 260 months.

March 2020 (Operation Stranded Bandit)

Wheeler Correctional Facility, Lee State Prison, Chatham County Detention Center, and a GDC facility in Milledgeville

Prisoners used smuggled cellphones to coordinate a drug trafficking operation from Mexico to coastal and South Georgia. The network operated at least as early as 2017 and distributed meth, cocaine, MDMA and other drugs, prosecutors said. The inmates were among 35 people, many of them associated with gangs, charged in Operation Stranded Bandit.

November 2019

Washington State Prison

A man serving a 20-year sentence for aggravated assault led a methamphetamine network that authorities believed in one year alone had distributed more than 200 pounds of crystal meth in Volusia County, Florida. Inmate Jeffery White was identified as the ringleader, but nearly 40 other arrest warrants were issued for others said to be involved in the trafficking operation, which also distributed fentanyl and marijuana.

Credit: Volusia County Sheriff's Office

February 2019

Dooly and Washington state prisons

A drug ring led by an inmate serving a sentence for drug trafficking distributed illicit drugs in Georgia prisons and throughout metro Atlanta. Jesus Sanchez-Morales was the leader, and four other inmates were among the 34 defendants in the case. The organization repeatedly threatened violence to uncooperative members, prosecutors said. Agents seized more than 175 kilograms of meth, 25 gallons of liquid meth, 12,000 fentanyl pills and other quantities of fentanyl powder, heroin and marijuana.

November 2018 (Operation Vanilla Gorilla)

Various state prisons and jails

At several Georgia prisons and jails, affiliates of the white supremacist street gang Ghost Face Gangsters were trafficking meth, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs throughout eastern Georgia and beyond. Prosecutors said the conspiracy started in 2015. A federal investigation called Operation Vanilla Gorilla resulted in charges against 43 men and women.

April 2018

Calhoun State Prison

Inmate Edwin Murillo of Gwinnett County, serving a sentence for crimes including the sale of meth, brokered major meth sales in several northeast Georgia counties. He also was found to have 76 grams of pure meth in his cell. Murillo used a phone to direct a Watkinsville woman to dealers, and she would pay him $500 for each connection, sending the money to places he designated. In April 2019, he was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison. In September 2023, the drug ringleader was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to directing the 2021 torture, murder and dismemberment of a woman kidnapped from Plaza Fiesta Shopping Mall in DeKalb County. According to news reports, Murillo ordered the woman’s murder because the “business relationship” he had with her had collapsed and he no longer trusted her.

Credit: GBI

March 2018

Wheeler Correctional Facility

A man serving sentences for trafficking meth in Gwinnett and Clayton counties used a contraband cellphone to broker the illegal distribution of kilos of meth to known drug dealers. They distributed it across the state. Inmate Jose Calderon pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 262 months in prison.

October 2017

Smith State Prison

A gang member serving time for cocaine trafficking helped run a meth trafficking operation, even as he was segregated from the general inmate population for 23 hours a day, according to federal prosecutors. Ricardo Silva, from Lawrenceville, coordinated deliveries from a source in Mexico, and agents later seized more than 100 pounds of both liquid and crystal meth. He was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison.

June 2017

Calhoun State

A 23-year-old prisoner serving a sentence for burglary used a contraband cellphone to direct the delivery of methamphetamine in the Fitzgerald area. Six others were convicted in the scheme. The inmate, Irvin Falcon, was sentenced to 260 months in federal prison.

September 2016

Calhoun State

Daniel Roger Alo, AKA ”Marco Polo” and “boss man,” was serving a life sentence for armed robbery, aggravated assault and kidnapping, when he created a meth trafficking business. He carried out the scheme using cellphones smuggled in by corrupt guards and dropped by drones into the prison. Gangs helped distribute the drugs in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and other parts of the Southeast. Alo was one of more than 20 defendants convicted in the investigation. Among them was Jason Prince, a former cellmate of Alo’s. Authorities seized more than $600,00 in cash. Alo was sentenced to 29 years in federal prison; Prince was sentenced to 10 years.

February 2016 (Operation Ghost Guard)

Macon, Phillips, Baldwin, Dooly, Dodge, Pulaski, Autry and Hancock state prisons and Riverbend Correctional Facility

After a two-year investigation called Operation Ghost Guard, federal criminal charges were filed against 46 GDC correctional officers. Some were on GDC’s COBRA squad, whose function is to intercept prison drug deals. Guards typically were paid $500 to $1,000 for smuggling in cellphones, and more for protecting what they believed to be drug shipments in a sting operation. Prosecutors noted that while inmates used contraband phones to organize the trafficking of meth and cocaine, they also used jury scams and other fraud to get the money to bribe guards.

January 2016

Hancock and Valdosta state prisons and Coastal Transition Center

Three inmates used cellphones to operate a network distributing crystal meth in metro Atlanta and elsewhere, according to an indictment unsealed in January 2016. Among the 14 others charged were brokers, distributors and runners for the drug deals, prosecutors said. The three inmates also were charged with possessing meth with the intent to distribute it.

September 2015

Valdosta and Phillips state prisons

A dozen people, including seven inmates, a former prison guard and a kitchen worker, were indicted on drug trafficking, extortion, wire fraud and identity theft charges. Meth, prescription pain medication, marijuana and other drugs were involved. In return for bribes, GDC employees helped smuggle cellphones, drugs and other contraband. In one instance, prosecutors said an inmate allegedly used a cellphone to arrange a hit on another inmate.

NOTE: Correctional facilities listed were either noted in case files or were the locations of inmates when charged in the drug cases.

Investigations editor Lois Norder contributed to this report.

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