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.
This week alone, Pirro’s office announced that: (1) Robbers were sentenced for kidnapping and beating a woman in her home; (2) Three more men in Washington, D.C., were sentenced for trafficking fentanyl; (3) A Marijuanna dealer who passed a machine gun was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison; and (4) A jury found a father guilty of first-degree child sexual abuse of his 12-year-old.
Last week, 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.