Pittsburgh, Pa (WJET/WFXP)– A Jamaican man convicted of being the kingpin of an international drug operation that mainly operated in the eastern United States will spend the rest of his life in prison.
This week a Pittsburgh judge sentenced 43-year-old Racoco Williams to life in prison for the six-count conviction of violating federal kingpin statutes, federal drug trafficking, racketeering and money laundering laws over the course of about six years.
Williams’ operation trafficked about 150 kilos of cocaine across cities including Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; New York City; and Pittsburgh from 2012 to 2018 with the court saying he often used young women facing financial hardships as couriers for drugs and money, one being 16 years old.
According to court information, the drugs would often be picked up near the southwest border in Phoenix, Arizona then taken by the couriers on flights or busses to be brought back to different areas to be sold then return the money to the Phoenix base.
To keep couriers in line, prosecutors said Williams would often threaten them with violence even threatening to kill one courier and their entire family if she cooperated with law enforcement.
“This sentence is the culmination of years of investigative and prosecutorial work, diligence, and expertise,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Philadelphia Sara Bay. “As a result of this investigation, special agents and prosecutors were able to dismantle a vicious transnational drug trafficking organization and free the young women who Racoco Williams controlled through threats of violence.”
Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement said they seized approximately $895,000 in cash from Williams and his associates across multiple incidents with large amounts of drugs and jewelry also being seized.
One bust in 2012 even uncovered $337,000 in cash concealed in secret compartments in eight suitcases that netted him a two-year sentence on probation for assisting a criminal syndicate. Another in Arizona in 2014 also found two suitcases with approximately $160,000 in cash.
An associate of Williams was also arrested in Carnegie, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in 2017 after being caught with six kilograms of cocaine and $78,500 in their home that was moved there from Las Vegas two days prior.
This was followed by two more incidents in the Pittsburgh area, one in Monroeville and another in Swissvale. The Swissvale incident in May, 2017 uncovered $120,000 in cash and valuable jewelry with the Monroeville incent three months later revealed 17 kilograms of cocaine concealed in two suitcases, and approximately $192,000 in cash and $150,000 in jewelry concealed in another suitcase.
William’s operations in the Pittsburgh area were also aided by co-conspirators in the Penn Hills area even while he was in prison.
Authorities also convicted Williams of arranging shipments while incarcerated from Phoenix to the Pittsburgh area but intercepted it in Arizona seizing approximately $400,000 in cash, $200,000 worth of jewelry, and a BMW sport utility vehicle.
Over the course of the multi-year investigation, Williams and his associates were investigated by the FBI, DEA, PA Attorney General, Allegheny County Police Department, Swissvale Police Department, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office, and Yavapai County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office.
