(WXYZ) — The leader of the Jackson street gang, Thorough Bread Family, will spend more than 17 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
Tamarious "Poogi" Faulkner was sentenced to 210 months in prison on Tuesday, according to United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr.
The 28-year-old Faulkner, who is from Houston, was sentenced for distributing fentanyl with a unique texture and coloring in Jackson as part of the gang's activities. While most fentanyl is sold as a powder, the gang's fentanyl was sold in a rock-like crystalline form, and was often colored yellow, purple, or green, rather than the usual white.
The unique fentanyl is attributed to a spike in overdoses and violence by Jackson police. The department says after Thorough Bread Family members, including Faulkner, were arrested and prosecuted, the Jackson community, “almost immediately rebounded. Violent crime was cut in half, overdoses decreased, as well as the associated crimes with it.”
Six other defendants have already been sentenced as follows:
- Demond Johns, age 27 of Jackson: 128 months’ prison
- Dominque Faulkner, age 33 of Jackson: 126 months’ prison
- Zaire Faulkner, age 26 of Jackson: 10 years’ prison
- Demarquan Smith, age 23 of Jackson: 10 years’ prison
- Tommy Owens, age 33 of Jackson: 87 months’ prison
- Mario Murguia, age 24 of Jackson: 5 years’ prison
