Major crack cocaine gang jailed
Police have said smashing a major drug dealing gang in Middlesbrough prevented a violent turf war.
The five major players of the “Donna Network” crack cocaine gang were jailed for a total of 27 years at Teesside Crown Court on Monday.
London-based leader Albert “Papa” Thoms was sentenced to 10 years after admitting conspiracy to supply drugs.
Detectives said the £1m-a-year profit gang could have caused a bloody gun war with local gangsters.
The gang, whose members were mainly Jamaican nationals, were named the “Donna Network” after police repeatedly found the name in local drug addicts’ mobile phones.
London-based leader Albert “Papa” Thoms was sentenced to 10 years after admitting conspiracy to supply drugs.
Detectives said the £1m-a-year profit gang could have caused a bloody gun war with local gangsters.
The gang, whose members were mainly Jamaican nationals, were named the “Donna Network” after police repeatedly found the name in local drug addicts’ mobile phones.
“As time progressed it was inevitable that there would have been turf wars and increased violence.”
He said police had taken out a number of middle-level dealers to see if those higher up the chain would fill the vacuum.
Thoms, 32, and other members took the bait, sending couriers from Kings Cross on the East Coast Mainline.
He hoped to make Middlesbrough a hub from which to control the supply of crack cocaine to the North East of England.
Members were put under surveillance and arrested in nationwide raids in April last year.
Thoms’ second in command Lloyd Ormsby, 33, from Kimberley House, Galbraith Street, London, was jailed for seven years for conspiracy to supply drugs.
Major dealers Wycliffe Clarke, 37, of Briggeford Close, London, and Marcus Steadman, 30, who was an escapee from HMP Sudbury at the time of the operation, were jailed for four years each.
Three Jamaican nationals, were handed community order sentences for their lesser roles in the conspiracy.
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