South Hills man busted by FBI wiretap gets year in prison for selling heroin, fentanyl

A South Hills man will spend a year and a day in prison for scheming to sell heroin and fentanyl as part of a drug ring linked to a neighborhood gang, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said Wednesday.

Jonathan Laur, 37, of Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood was among nearly two dozen suspects nabbed by the FBI over the summer in a federal wiretap investigation into drug activity by the gang known as Darccide/Smash 44, or DS44, which prosecutors say is based out of the Knoxville, Arlington and Mt. Oliver neighborhoods.

Laur — identified as a drug runner for the gang based on intercepted calls and messages among nine tapped phone lines — faces three years of probation upon his release from prison, court records show. He pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances.

Laur and at least 21 conspirators — including gang leaders and members, drug suppliers and their associates — were indicted by a federal grand jury on drug and gun charges in mid-June. Most had addresses in and around Pittsburgh, with some from places such as West Mifflin and McKees Rocks in Allegheny County, Irwin in Westmoreland County and Peters Township in Washington County.

Together, those indicted were charged with helping to distribute heroin in the amount of more than one kilogram, or at least 2.2 pounds, and at least 400 grams, or nearly 1 pound, of fentanyl between January 2018 and June 2019, according to the indictment. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid painkiller that can be 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. As little as 2 or 3 nanograms of fentanyl per milliliter of blood can be deadly.

In his guilty plea, Laur took personal responsibility for distributing at least 12 grams of heroin and fentanyl, or 0.03 pounds.

The gang members and conspirators also were charged with trafficking fentanyl analogs, cocaine and crack cocaine, the indictment said.

“My office will continue to make the identification and prosecution of these neighborhood thugs a priority until our communities are gang-free,” Brady said in a statement.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Brendan J. McKenna and Carolyn J. Bloch prosecuted the case against Laur, Judge William S. Stickman IV imposed his year-long prison sentence.

The FBI led the investigation with help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, Pennsylvania State Police and the state Attorney General’s Office.

Local agencies that assisted included the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, Allegheny County police and probation officers and police from Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg, Green Tree, Mt. Oliver, New York City and Yonkers.