Agents seized guns as part of a raid on a drug ring tied to a white supremacist prison gang. Among those arrested was the suspected ringleader, Jesse James Bailey. (Gun photo from the Drug Enforcement Administration; mugshot from Washington state Department of Corrections)
Two dozen people, including a former corrections guard and the wife of the suspected ringleader, were arrested in crackdowns on the Aryan Family white supremacist prison gang.
A grand jury indicted the suspects in a drug trafficking case, the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a news release this week.
Among those nabbed was alleged ringleader Jesse James Bailey, who authorities described as an influential member of the Aryan Family who sold massive amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other drugs in Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, authorities said. Bailey’s wife, Candice Bailey, was also arrested, officials said. She’s a former Washington state corrections officer who resigned in 2014 while she was under investigation, a spokesman said in an email to Law&Crime.
“The sheer amount of narcotics seized in this investigation is shocking,” said Jacob Galvan, acting special agent in charge of the DEA in Seattle. “The fentanyl seized in this operation contained enough lethal doses to kill everyone who lives in Tacoma and Seattle, with enough lethal doses left over to poison another half a million people.”
Richard Collodi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office, said some suspects allegedly operated from prison.
Washington State Department of Corrections Secretary Cheryl Strange said fentanyl use by inmates is a serious problem.
“Removing a major supplier of this deadly drug is a huge victory for all Washingtonians,” Strange said.
The suspects range in age from 24 to 64. Three were being sought. The rest were in custody, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
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