Pennsylvania’s Attorney General’s Office busted a $2.2 million Pittsburgh-area cocaine ring whose customers used coded references to prominent football players, said Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Customers would allegedly order a quarter-ounce of cocaine -- roughly seven grams -- by asking for a "Ben Roethlisberger jersey" or a " Vick," Corbett said. Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, and Michael Vick, who plays for the Eagles, both wear No. 7.
Get it? These guys must be big football fans.
Not a single NFL player was in any way implicated in the bust -- the accused drug dealers allegedly used only the names of some players as slang.
The ring even got a catchy name, “Operation Bad Sport.”
Two men linked to a “violent” Pittsburgh street gang, the Race Street Crips, led the ring, Corbett said.
Julius Robinson, of McKees Rocks, allegedly ran the ring and was arrested Monday. It's unclear if he had an attorney. Antonio Henderson was fingered as the main associate allegedly involved with “street-level” customers, according to Corbett’s office.
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The ring leaders and their associates allegedly used “coded references, including sports figures’ jersey numbers and the Allegheny County area code of “412” when they talked about dealing powder and crack cocaine, according to Corbett.
The Attorney General’s office began its investigation in “Operation Bad Sport” in Jan. 2009.
Thirteen people were charged in the ring based out of Monroeville, Pa.
