Detroit, MI Drug Trafficking Defense Lawyers

Detroit, MI Drug Trafficking Defense Lawyers

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. If you’re facing federal drug trafficking charges in Detroit, you need to understand something that contradicts everything you’ve been told about how drug trafficking works in this country. Detroit isn’t a cartel stronghold. It’s a switchboard. Drugs arrive here from California in plastic buckets mailed through the post office. They get processed in basements owned by gas station operators. And then they flow north – through the Ambassador Bridge, through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, through Port Huron – into Canada. The largest fentanyl seizure in Michigan history didn’t come from a cartel safe house. It came from the basement of a 55-year-old businessman who owned a Citgo station and car wash.

Barry Willis was running a legitimate gas station on Livernois Avenue when federal agents discovered over 40 kilograms of fentanyl in his Clinton Township stash house – enough, according to the DEA, to provide “nearly two deadly doses to every man, woman, and child living in the state of Michigan.” He wasn’t connected to Mexican cartels. He wasn’t a gang member. He was a business owner who happened to be one of the largest fentanyl distributors in state history. And he was discovered because of a routine traffic stop in Livonia that led investigators to a heroin buyer who knew Willis only as “Blue.”

Our goal at Spodek Law Group is explaining exactly how federal prosecution works in a city where the assumptions don’t match the reality. You’re not facing charges in a jurisdiction dominated by international cartels. You’re facing charges in a jurisdiction where African American drug trafficking organizations have been the predominant traffickers for decades, where the I-94 corridor connects you to Chicago distribution networks, and where federal prosecutors have built an infrastructure specifically designed to dismantle operations that most Americans don’t even know exist. The Southeast Michigan Regional Strike Force has been operating since 2017. They’ve seized enough fentanyl to kill 15 million people. And now they’re building a case against you.

The Gas Station That Changed Everything

Heres what the Willis case reveals about how drug trafficking prosecutions actualy work in Detroit. The investigation didnt start with wiretaps or informants or sophisticated surveillance. It started with a traffic stop. A Livonia police officer pulled over a driver and found drugs in the vehicle. That driver mentioned buying heroin from someone named “Blue.” Investigators conducted surveillance while a witness made two controlled purchases. And that simple chain of events – traffic stop to buyer to surveillance to stash house – led to the largest fentanyl seizure in Michigan history.

Think about what that means for your case. Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan dont need to catch you mid-transaction. They dont need to intercept shipments or flip cartel operatives. They need one traffic stop. One buyer who knows your name. One controlled purchase that establishes probable cause. The investigation that led to Willis ran for months before he knew it existed. By the time agents searched his gas station, his home, and his Littlefield Street stash house on March 28, 2024, they knew exactly what theyd find.

The government recovered more then just the 40 kilograms of fentanyl. They found 2.6 kilograms of cocaine, a pill press, narcotics scales, drug recipes, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in suspected drug proceeds. Willis wasnt just distributing – he was manufacturing fentanyl pills. The man who ran a car wash and gas station in Detroit had industrial pill-pressing equipment in his basement. And now he faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in federal prison.

Todd Spodek and the team at Spodek Law Group have watched this pattern repeat in case after case. The legitimate buisness owner who nobody suspected. The traffic stop that unraveled everything. The mandatory minimums that eliminate any hope of judicial discretion. Understanding how prosecutions develop in Detroit is essential becuase by the time your arrested, the government has already built its case.

The Northbound Pipeline

Heres the hidden geography that defines drug trafficking in Detroit. Most Americans think drugs flow INTO the United States from Mexico. They think Detroit is a destination. There wrong. Detroit is an export hub. Drugs come here from California, consolidate in distribution networks across the metropolitan area, and then move NORTH – through the Ambassador Bridge, through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, through the Blue Water Bridge at Port Huron – into Canada.

Operation Dead Hand exposed exactly how this works. FBI and RCMP investigators dismantled a trucking-based smuggling network that connected Mexican cartels in Los Angeles to Italian Mafia associates in Montreal. The drugs – 845 kilograms of methamphetamine, 951 kilograms of cocaine, 20 kilograms of fentanyl, 4 kilograms of heroin – moved through Detroit in commercial trucks driven by long-haul operators who crossed the border dozens of times as part of there regular routes. The wholesale value was between $16 million and $28 million.

Think about what this means for federal prosecution. When the government charges you with drug trafficking in Detroit, there not just charging you with local distribution. There connecting you to international smuggling networks. The Ambassador Bridge isnt just a crossing to Windsor – its a federal jurisdiction trigger. The moment drugs cross that bridge, your facing charges that link you to cartels in Mexico, distributors in California, and organized crime in Canada. The same trucks carrying legitimate cargo become the evidence of conspiracy.

Spodek Law Group understands what northbound trafficking cases look like in federal court. The quantities involved in these operations – hundreds of kilograms moving through Detroit crossing points – trigger mandatory minimums that eliminate any possibility of lenient sentencing. The government dosent need to prove you personaly drove the truck across the Ambassador Bridge. They need to prove you were part of the conspiracy that made it possible.

California Buckets to Detroit Basements

Let me show you one of the strangest distribution patterns in American drug trafficking. Keith Haskins was mailing kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine from California to his associate in Detroit – Kennie Smith – using plastic buckets from a hardware store chain. Not vacuum-sealed packages. Not hidden compartments. Plastic buckets shipped through the United States Postal Service.

Federal agents intercepted several of these parcels and found exactly what you’d expect inside mundane home improvement containers: industrial quantities of drugs destined for Detroit distribution. Smith managed the local network from there. By the time the investigation concluded, law enforcement had seized 87 kilograms of methamphetamine, 3 kilograms of fentanyl, 1 kilogram of cocaine, seven firearms, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Heres why this matters for defendants in Detroit. The government can track postal shipments. They can intercept packages. They can connect dots between California senders and Michigan recipiants. And once they establish that connection, everyone in the chain faces conspiracy charges – regardless of wether they knew about each other, regardless of wether they ever met, regardless of wether they understood the full scope of the operation. The person who recieved one bucket faces the same legal exposure as the person who shipped dozens.

The Haskins-Smith case demonstrates how Detroit functions as a terminus in transcontinental trafficking networks. Drugs dont originate here. They arrive here from other states, through mail services and commercial shipping and personal couriers, and then they fan out across southeast Michigan. If your charged in connection with any of these supply chains, the entire quantity becomes your sentencing exposure.

African American Organizations, Not Cartels

Heres the assumption that misleads most people about drug trafficking in Detroit. When Americans think about major drug operations, they think about Mexican cartels. Sinaloa. Jalisco New Generation. The organizations that dominate headlines and Hollywood. But in the Michigan HIDTA region – the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area that includes Detroit – the predominant traffickers arnt Mexican nationals. There African American drug trafficking organizations and criminal groups.

This isnt speculation. Its documented in federal intelligence reports going back decades. African American DTOs distribute wholesale quantities of cocaine, marijuana, and heroin throughout the region. Street gangs – Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings, Sureños, Latin Counts – handle distribution in specific territories. Outlaw motorcycle gangs like Hells Angels and Outlaws move cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine through there own networks. The trafficking landscape in Detroit is far more complex then the simple “drugs from Mexico” narrative suggests.

For defendants, this complexity creates both challenges and opportunities. The government cant simply point to cartel membership to establish conspiracy. They have to prove your connection to specific organizations operating in specific ways. But those organizations are also well-documented by federal task forces that have been tracking there operations for years. The Southeast Michigan Regional Strike Force has seized over 35 kilograms of fentanyl, 25 kilograms of heroin, 50 kilograms of cocaine, and aproximately three million dollars in drug proceeds since 2017. They know how these networks operate.

Understanding the actual organizational structure of Detroit trafficking matters becuase the government’s theory of conspiracy depends on it. If there claiming your part of a particular network, the evidence has to support that specific connection. Defense requires knowing what the prosecution actualy needs to prove.

The 650-Lifer Shadow

Let me tell you about a law that no longer exists in its original form but still shapes how federal prosecutors approach drug cases in Michigan. The “650-Lifer” law established a mandatory life sentence without parole for anyone convicted of possessing more then 650 grams of cocaine or heroin. Not trafficking. Not distribution with weapons. Simple possession of 650 grams triggered mandatory life.

The law was designed to target kingpins. It ended up destroying low-level couriers and first-time offenders who happened to be caught with quantities that crossed the threshold. Michigan eventualy reformed the statute, but the prosecutorial culture it created persists. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan grew up in a system were 650 grams meant life. That severity dosent disappear when laws change. It becomes institutional memory.

Current federal mandatory minimums in Michigan work similarly. Forty grams of fentanyl – a quantity that fits in your palm – triggers a five-year mandatory minimum. Four hundred grams triggers ten years. If someone dies from drugs you distributed, your facing twenty years to life. And if you have a prior drug felony, all those minimums double automaticaly.

Ricardo Delgado II was sentenced to 720 months – 60 years – in federal prison for conspiracy plus possession with intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl, plus possession of a machinegun in furtherance of drug trafficking. The government seized 13 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of fentanyl, 12 firearms including 2 machineguns and 2 silencers, and over $200,000 in cash. Delgado will die in federal prison unless something changes in the next six decades. Thats the sentencing environment in Detroit.

The Strike Force Machinery

Since October 2017, the Southeast Michigan Regional Strike Force has operated as a dedicated federal task force targeting large-scale drug trafficking organizations in the Detroit area. Heres what there seizure numbers look like: 35 kilograms of fentanyl – enough to kill approximately 15 million people based on lethal dosage thresholds. 25 kilograms of heroin. 50 kilograms of cocaine. 12 weapons. Aproximately three million dollars in drug proceeds. Over 100 arrests.

DEA Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. Plancon described the mission clearly: the agency is “committed to a long-term partnership that allows law enforcement to reduce the illegal drug supply by aggressively targeting criminal organizations operating throughout southeast Michigan.” The key phrase is “long-term partnership.” This isnt reactive policing. This is sustained infrastructure designed to identify, investigate, and dismantle trafficking networks over months and years.

If your facing charges that originated from Strike Force investigation, your case carries particular weight. These arnt street-level busts escalated to federal court. There coordinated operations involving federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies working together with specific prosecutorial objectives. The evidence against you was probly gathered over an extended period before you knew you were being watched.

The Strike Force also coordinates with the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) at the national level. When Detroit trafficking connects to networks in other states – and it almost always does – OCDETF provides the framework for multi-jurisdictional prosecution. Your case might not be just about Detroit. It might be about the entire supply chain from California or the entire distribution network reaching into Canada.

Traffic Stops That End Careers

Consider the mathematics of how Detroit trafficking prosecutions begin. Barry Willis was discovered becuase a driver got pulled over in Livonia and mentioned buying heroin from “Blue.” Maurice Montain McCoy Jr., sentenced to 22 years for leading a fentanyl organization, was dismantled through investigation that began with similar routine law enforcement activity. The multi-state operation that indicted 19 defendants from Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio started somewhere – probably a traffic stop, probably a cooperating witness, probably something that seemed minor at the time.

This is the cascade that destroys defendants. One traffic stop leads to one buyer. One buyer leads to one dealer. One dealer leads to one stash house. One stash house leads to 40 kilograms of fentanyl and mandatory 20-year sentences. The government dosent need sophisticated intelligence operations to build conspiracy cases. They need patience and the willingness to follow chains of evidence wherever they lead.

For defendants, this means something uncomfortable: by the time your arrested, the government has likely followed a chain of evidence through multiple people to reach you. There not starting fresh. There at the end of an investigation that might have run for months. The witnesses who identified you have probably already cooperated in exchange for reduced sentences. The evidence from stash houses and vehicles has already been catalogued and analyzed.

Understanding this timing matters for defense strategy. If your charged as part of a larger conspiracy, your not fighting a case the government just started building. Your fighting a case thats been under construction since before you knew it existed.

The Trucker Network Revelation

Operation Dead Hand revealed something most people dont understand about international drug smuggling. The drugs werent moving through hidden tunnels or private planes or sophisticated smuggling infrastructure. They were moving through commercial trucks driven by professional long-haul operators who crossed the Detroit-Windsor border as part of there regular routes.

Dozens of trucking companies were involved in the network. The drivers made numerous border crossings – through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, through the Buffalo Peace Bridge, through the Blue Water Bridge – mixing legitimate cargo runs with drug shipments. The conspiracy connected drug suppliers with ties to Mexican cartels, distributors in Los Angeles, Canadian truck drivers, and associates of the Italian Mafia in Montreal. Three countries. Hundreds of kilograms. And the transportation infrastructure was hiding in plain sight.

This matters for Detroit defendants becuase commercial trucking is the backbone of regional commerce. The Ambassador Bridge carries billions of dollars in legitimate trade every year. When federal prosecutors investigate trafficking networks that use these same crossing points, there not looking for hidden smuggling routes. There looking for trucks that make regular crossings – trucks that could belong to anyone, driven by people who might look like ordinary commercial operators.

If your connected to any transportation aspect of drug trafficking in Detroit – if you drove, if you arranged shipments, if you knew someone who crossed the border – the government can connect you to networks of extraordinary scale. Operation Dead Hand seized $16-28 million in wholesale drugs. Everyone connected to that conspiracy faces exposure to those quantities.

What Defense Looks Like Here

The decisions you make right now – what you say to investigators, wether you cooperate with searches, how quickly you get experienced counsel involved – will shape everthing that follows. Every statement becomes potential evidence of conspiracy. Every delay allows the government to strengthen its case. The traffic stop that started the Willis investigation happened months before his arrest. By the time agents knocked on his door, they knew his operations better then he realized.

If your reading this, something has already happened. Federal agents may have executed a search warrant. You may have recieved a target letter indicating your a subject of grand jury investigation. A co-defendant may have mentioned your name during cooperation sessions you didnt know about. Whatever triggered your search for a Detroit drug trafficking defense lawyer, the clock is running. Detention hearings happen within days of arrest. Cooperation decisions cant be delayed indefinitely.

Call 212-300-5196 for a confidential consultation. Wether your case involves fentanyl from California buckets or cocaine moving north through the Ambassador Bridge, wether the government is connecting you to the Strike Force’s ongoing investigations or treating you as an independent operator – the analysis starts the same way. Understanding exactly what your facing in a district were gas station owners become kingpins, were traffic stops become federal cases, and were the drugs flow north to Canada through the same crossings everyone uses. Detroit is the switchboard. The government knows how it works. Your defense has to account for that reality.