CHICAGO— A high-ranking leader of the Black Disciples street gang was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison for drug trafficking, officials said.
The defendant, Walter Blackman, of Gary, Indiana, pleaded guilty in August 2014 to distribution of illegal narcotics. Blackman has been in custody since April 2013 and must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for release from prison, according to authorities.
“This sentence holds the defendant accountable for the narcotics enterprise he controlled, and for his role in the accompanying gang and gun violence that harms our communities,” said Zachary T. Fardon, U.S. Attorney.
Officials said Blackman, 52, distributed drugs—including crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and heroin—and controlled the Black Disciples gang members’ drug trafficking in the city of Chicago’s far south side, including the violence-plagued Roseland and Altgeld Gardens communities.
The government’s sentencing memorandum states that Blackman admitted that he had approximately 500 subordinate gang members underneath his control in his territory in “the hundreds,” being part of the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago named for the three-digit streets, officials stated.
Blackman’s charges in this case, namely sixteen counts of drug distribution, are a small sample of his larger drug trafficking operation in and outside the Black Disciples street gang—an operation that encompassed multiple drug types, multiple years, and multiple states, officials stated.
The defendant distributed drugs in the Chicago area and elsewhere including Wisconsin.
The Court held Blackman responsible for distributing approximately 4,000 grams of crack cocaine, 1,000 grams of powder cocaine, and approximately 390 grams of heroin, according to authorities.
Blackman also possessed firearms during his drug trafficking activities.