Jeanine Pirro was sworn in as the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia recently and vowed to clean up Washington, D.C.
And she has wasted little time.
Two people were sentenced to more than 130 months in prison on Thursday for their participation in a drug trafficking conspiracy that spread contraband in Washington, D.C., as well as a shooting, officials said.
Jamiek “Onion” Bassil, 32, and Charles “Cheese” Manson, 34, of D.C., were sentenced to 135 and 175 months in prison, respectively, for a drug trafficking conspiracy that supplied fentanyl, crack cocaine, and other substances throughout Northeast D.C., according to officials.
They were also convicted of a March 2024 shooting between 19th and I Street Northeast, said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
On March 21, Bassil pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl. Mason pled guilty on the same day to conspiring to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, possessing a handgun in furtherance of a drug trafficking felony, and assault with a dangerous weapon, according to Pirro.
Mason and Bassil were part of the “21st and Vietnam” crew, which controlled an open-air drug market. They supplied drugs in the 2100 block of Maryland Avenue, Northeast, according to Pirro.
Manson was the gunman in a March 7, 2024, shooting in the 1900 block of I Street, Northeast—the same block as his residence, where he was apprehended eight days later. Pirro added that when members of the team disagreed with the dog owner, a person walking by with their dog was present.
Monsoon entered the apartment complex after a crew member handed him a ski mask. According to Pirro, he exited the premises while wearing the mask and carrying a revolver.
Pirro claims that Manson fired multiple shots at the dogwalker, missing the dog and the human.
Officers found a Glock 17 handgun with 22 rounds of 9mm ammunition in it when they arrested Manson. They also found a pistol magazine, a box of ammo, around 50 grams of fentanyl analogue, 13.88 grams of cocaine, and other drug paraphernalia, according to Pirro.
Between January and March 2024, Bassil sold up to 80 grams of fentanyl to undercover police agents on many occasions. He also sold additional prohibited substances to law enforcement, according to Pirro.
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, two milligrams of fentanyl can be deadly, depending on body size, tolerance, and previous use.
According to Pirro, Manson sold illicit substances directly to consumers and was captured on surveillance footage engaging in drug transactions.
Pirro has been very busy in the last month.
In a series of press releases, Pirro’s office announced that: (1) A mother has been found guilty of felony murder of her 16-month-old daughter; (2) A man was arrested in a D.C. jail homicide; (3) A man was found guilty of kidnapping and strangulation; (4) a man was arrested for murdering a woman and throwing her body in a dumpster; (5) and a previously convicted felon was sentenced to 69 months in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm.
Pirro’s office also announced that a Washington state man who livestreamed threats has been convicted on several charges.
The 39-year-old man from Pasco, Washington, was found guilty by a federal judge of illegally carrying two guns without a license, unlawfully possessing ammunition, and spreading false information and hoaxes.
Judge Carl J. Nichols of the U.S. District Court found Taylor Taranto guilty of all charges and will set up a sentencing hearing after deciding whether to grant the defense’s request to free Taranto until the sentencing hearing.
On June 28, 2023, Taranto streamed a live video of himself while driving his van near National Harbor, Maryland. He told the crowd that he had been “working on a detonator” and that he was going to drive a car bomb into the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
He was going after a neutron generator on the NIST grounds. Then he drove across the Wilson Bridge to Alexandria, Virginia. He stopped his van in the middle of the street and ran away from it to show his audience how he could make it look like there was an emergency.
