Federal drug charges were filed against 18 people prosecutors say sold drugs as part of a gang that operated in Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs from September 2017 until this week.

One of the men, Jason Jackson, 26, of Pittsburgh, remains wanted by the FBI. Jackson, whose nickname is “Action,” according to U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady, is a suspected member of the gang “Hustlas Don’t Sleep.”

The gang trafficked in crack cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in McKeesport, Monroeville, Turtle Creek and Wilkinsburg, according to a grand jury indictment filed in U.S. Western District Court.

Brady said the leader of the gang is Robert Howell Jr., 31, of Monroeville.

The investigation into the gang started more than two years ago, Monroeville police Chief Doug Cole said.

Monroeville detectives became aware of the gang and realized it stretched beyond their municipal borders.

Authorities weren’t able to peg how much the investigation cost, but the cooperation among agencies allowed Monroeville to use the expertise of FBI agents, county police and others to develop a wiretap case against the gang that led to the charges announced Monday. A 2018 federal designation of Allegheny, Beaver and Washington counties as a High Density Drug Trafficking Area provided $1 million a year in federal funding to help investigations such as this one.

In addition to the arrests, authorities seized $130,000 in cash and 410 bricks of suspected heroin and fentanyl, which amount to more than 22,500 individual doses, according to Brady.

They also took 21 guns, four of which had been stolen.

These alleged Hustlas Don’t Sleep members were named in the indictment:

• Robert Howell Jr., 31, of Monroeville

• Brandoun Calhoun, 27, of Pittsburgh

• Pressley Calhoun, III, 57, of Wilkinsburg

• Brandon Campbell-Taylor, 27, of Pittsburgh

• Duane Eugene Cash, Jr., 48, of Monroeville

• Wesley Ellis-Barnes, 31, of Pittsburgh

• Timothy Harper, 37, of Monroeville

• Jason Jackson, 26, of Pittsburgh

• Jamal Knox, 25, of Verona

• Maurice Miller, 32, of Pittsburgh

• Joseph Posey, Jr., 22, of Wilkinsburg

• Curtis Saxton-Smith, 30, address unknown

• Che Williams, 33, of Pittsburgh

Six other people connected to the group were charged by criminal complaint and their cases are being presented before a grand jury. They weren’t identified by name.

It’s one of several gang-related arrests authorities have made in the region in recent years, which contributes to a decrease in the area’s violent crime rate, Brady and Pittsburgh police Chief Scott Schubert said.

The cooperation among agencies helps in cases like these, Schubert said. And, while this particular gang wasn’t based in Pittsburgh, the problem is one that transcends boundaries and each arrest that’s made contributes to making the entire region safer.

“This is a team effort,” Schubert said.

People with information about Jackson should call the FBI at 412-432-4000.

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