U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Thursday sentenced one of the leaders of a murderous St. Louis drug trafficking organization to 20 years in prison.
Maurice Herbert Lee II, 35, obtained bulk fentanyl and crystal methamphetamine from Arizona and supplied it to his co-conspirators, who sold over 20,000 doses per week at the height of the conspiracy. Lee also offered cash bounties of between $5,000 and $15,000 for the murder of rival gang members or drug dealers.
When he pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and two counts of conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, Lee admitted to offering and paying the bounty for the killing of two different men.
Alexander Noodel was fatally shot on May 8, 2017, by Tremayne Silas, now 30, and Jerome Lamont Fisher Jr., 30, Lee’s plea agreement says. The men fired over 100 rounds.
Lee also paid a $10,000 bounty for the murder of Kevin Davis Jr., 24, on June 30, 2017 in the 1900 block of Belt Avenue in St. Louis. Lee paid Delvin Bost, who paid Michael “Beezy” Johnson, 30, plea agreements by Lee and Bost say.
Lee also admitted to supplying methamphetamine to another person who then redistributed it. He admitted being responsible for between 4 and 12 kilograms of fentanyl and between 500 grams and 1.5 kilos of methamphetamine.
Fisher and Bost were among Lee’s “runners,” who dealt fentanyl for him. Christopher Jerrin Warlick Jr., 27, Norris Douglas Jr., 31, Mikell Rayford, 26, Sherod Jacolby Tucker, 34, Jerry O. Streeter Jr., 35, and Maricus Davon Futrell, 23, were others listed as runners in Lee’s plea agreement.
Bost, 28, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Bost is serving a nine-year sentence. Judge White sentenced both Silas and Johnson to 18 years in prison. Fisher is scheduled to be sentenced on September 19, with both sides recommending 17 years in prison.
All 17 defendants who were charged in the case pleaded guilty.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul D’Agrosa and Mohsen Pasha are prosecuting the case.
