BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: On Friday, United States Attorney Erek Barron announced that 31-year-old Gregory Butler was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Butler led a criminal organization named “NFL,” which operated across Maryland and neighboring states.
The organization was involved in crimes such as distributing cocaine and fentanyl and was responsible for several murders and fatal drug overdoses in the region. The announcement mentioned a deadly drug overdose in Rockville in 2016 after Butler coordinated the sale to the victim.
“During the conspiracy, NFL members distributed large quantities of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine to drug customers and re-distributors from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Butler admitted that he obtained narcotics from multiple sources of supply and stored the narcotics in stash houses that he controlled. Over the course of the charged conspiracy, Butler and his co-conspirators distributed over one kilogram of heroin and more than 280 grams of crack cocaine and more than 400 grams of fentanyl,” the Department of Justice reported.
Over 30 defendants in this and related cases have pleaded guilty so far.
“Butler admitted that the NFL enterprise sold heroin and fentanyl to multiple drug customers who subsequently overdosed and died. Butler agreed that these fatal overdoses were reasonably foreseeable to him, in light of his direct oversight of the enterprise’s drug trafficking activities. For example, on about August 16, 2016, Butler coordinated the sale of heroin to customer in Rockville, Maryland, who, later that day, used the heroin and died. In addition, Butler paid members and associates of the NFL enterprise to commit multiple murders on behalf of the enterprise and at least one of those murders was carried out by members of the NFL gang,” the DOJ said in a statement.