Washington, D.C. - Alvin Gaskins, the "administrative officer" of a local drug ring, has been sentenced to 262 months (21.8 years) in prison for his role in a local narcotics trafficking conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Gaskins received his sentence today in U.S. District Court before the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth. In December 2006, a federal jury sitting in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, returned guilty verdicts against Gerald Eiland, 37, of Alexandria, Virginia, Frederick "Toby" Miller, 37, of Oxon Hill, Maryland, Timothy Thomas, 57, of Washington, D.C., and Alvin Gaskins, 45, of Washington, D.C., leaders of a narcotics ring that operated in the District of Columbia, including the 600 and 700 blocks of Atlantic and Yuma Streets, SE, Washington, D.C. (which is within the Highlands subdivision), the State of Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Specifically, the jury found Eiland and Miller guilty of Narcotics Conspiracy, Racketeering (RICO) Conspiracy, Continuing Criminal Enterprise (CCE), and numerous counts of using a telephone in furtherance of a drug conspiracy, all in violation of federal laws. Timothy Thomas was convicted of Narcotics Conspiracy, RICO Conspiracy, and numerous telephone charges. Gaskins was convicted of Narcotics Conspiracy.

According to the government's evidence, between 1999 and 2004, Eiland and Miller, with the assistance of Timothy Thomas, controlled an organization that was responsible for smuggling drugs into the District of Columbia, processing and packaging those drugs, and selling them on the streets of the District. The organization used "mules" (drug couriers) to transport kilos of cocaine by car from Arizona and New Jersey to the District of Columbia. The organization also smuggled raw heroin into the District of Columbia through the U.S. Mail and by airline-passenger "mules."

In various "stash houses" in Virginia and the District of Columbia, the organization processed the powder cocaine into crack cocaine, and processed the raw heroin into street-level heroin. The government presented evidence from search warrants of those stash houses that included: multiple coffee grinders (to pulverize the raw heroin into powder), mannitol (an additive to increase the volume of street level heroin), sifters and strainers (to mix the heroin and additives), thousands of small ziplock bags, and a money-counting machine. The organization sold these drugs primarily in Southeast Washington, D.C.

The organization used violence to protect its drug enterprise. The government presented evidence that Eiland hired a co-conspirator to murder an individual over a drug debt. Eiland paid the hitman $10,000 in cash and a white Acura Legend car to perform the execution. In June 1999, the hitman laid in wait in Prince George's County, Maryland, approached the individual from behind, and shot him in the back of the head. Although the victim survived the shooting, he sustained permanent injuries.

Alvin Gaskins served as the organization's "administrative officer," whose vital role included: obtaining cell phones for the leaders; leasing apartments used as drug stash houses; making travel arrangements for drug and money couriers ("mules"); and administering the organization's bank accounts.

In November 2007, Gerald Eiland, Frederick Miller, and Timothy Thomas were sentenced to life imprisonment. Gaskins is the last of the defendants in this case to be sentenced.

This prosecution is the result of an investigation initiated in 2003 by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Metropolitan Police Department's (MPD) Safe Streets Gang Task Force into the trafficking of illegal narcotics into areas of Southeast Washington, D.C. To date, 26 persons have been convicted as part of the investigation.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended the following law enforcement and prosecution team members:

Federal Bureau of Investigations: Dan Sparks, Scott Turner, Steven Hall, and Katie Hanna;
Metropolitan Police Department: Konstantinos Giannakoulias, Thomas Webb, Barbara Lyles, Rick Watkins, Arthur Reed, James Zerega, Bryan Murphy, Chris Clark, Stephen Franchek, and Stephen Murphy;
U.S. Park Police: Paul Edwards and William Sepeck;
DEA Task Force: Christopher Sherman and Frank Wendolek;
U.S. Postal Inspector Service: Kevin McCann and Sherwin Green (ret.); and
U.S. Attorney's Office: Thomasenia Manson, Diane Brashears, Carolyn Carter-McKiney, Patrica Hall, Ashley Oldham, and Julius Rothstein.

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