Pittsburgh man gets 4 years for supplying heroin, fentanyl to South Side street gang

A former Pittsburgh man will spend four years and nine months behind bars for supplying heroin and fentanyl to a drug trafficking gang linked to the South Side, federal prosecutors said.

Rico Taylor, 35, also must spend three years on probation following his release from prison, U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV ruled in federal court in Pittsburgh.

Taylor pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said.

Taylor was one of 36 defendants initially charged in the indictment. Charges were in connection with a large-scale investigation by the Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force targeting the street gang known as Darccide/Smash 44, or DS44, and its drug trafficking around Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood.

Federal authorities said Taylor was involved in the distribution of heroin and fentanyl, including serving as heroin and fentanyl supplier for co-conspirator Christopher Highsmith.

Highsmith, 26, of Irwin, prosecutors said, was among the leaders of the conspiracy.

Several of those indicted have also pleaded guilty to federal charges.

In February 2019, the case became a federal wire investigation, which continued through June 2019.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Carolyn Bloch and Brendan J. McKenna prosecuted the case with help from the FBI and local authorities.

The investigation was funded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which was established in 1982 to help local and state agencies collaborate on major drug trafficking cases and related criminal enterprises.

In a statement, Brady’s office called the longstanding task force “the keystone of the drug reduction strategy of the Department of Justice.”