Deja vu: N.J. drug pipeline bust centers on previously convicted gang boss

Bobby Williams and his alleged Sex Money Murder Bloods' codefendants are charged with running a significant drug dealing operation in Trenton.

TRENTON -- In February of 2007, New Jersey authorities announced the arrests of nearly two dozen drug-dealing Bloods gangsters in Trenton and touted an "aggressive" new effort to "take down" violent gangs.

One of the leaders was Bobby Williams, a 27-year-old who lived on Southard Street, but had a place in Falls, Pa.

Williams was not the prototypical dealer but a "hybrid drug dealer." He had the Sex Money Murder Bloods gang affiliations, but he was adept at moving large shipments of cocaine and would sell to other gang factions, authorities said at the time.

Bobby Williams 

Williams was the only suspect charged with federal and state crimes, officials said in 2007, and documents described how undercover agents easily bought 100 grams of crack cocaine from him in back-to-back months.

The next year, a judge sentenced Williams to 12 years in prison after delaying the proceeding so he could spend time with his mother as she died of cancer. His lawyer said he was indeed a Bloods gangster, but was trying to leave the gang life, or "fall away."

On Friday, Williams, now 35, was again the lead mugshot in a press conference by a bevy of local, state and federal authorities announcing they had interrupted a major drug-dealing operation by the Sex Money Murder Bloods in Trenton - based on Southard Street.

So what happened?

The federal charges against Williams were dismissed a short time after his arrest and the state took the lead in his prosecution, records and news accounts show.

Williams was then paroled from the state prison system in September 2012.

Officials would not say Friday when Williams allegedly started leading the gang again, but the investigation has roots dating to 2013, and was in full force in all of 2014 and last year, Trenton police said.

The allegations are similar to the 2007 case, Trenton police acknowledge.

Authorities say the new Williams-led effort held a violent grip on North Trenton, but also supplied drugs to other a central New Jersey markets, as well as towns in the Pocono region of Pa.

Also busted in the current investigation were Khalfini Richardson, 31, and Capitol Wellons, 30, who were also charged in 2007 with Williams. They also later accepted plea bargains with state prosecutors, for five and three year terms, respectively.

"Sometimes the system is flawed and things we would like to see adjudicated at harsher or higher level gets watered down," Trenton Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. said of the prior prosecution of Williams.

Parrey was not director in 2007, but a city police supervisor, and not intimately involved in the 2007 case, which the state police led.

This case against Williams was much longer and Parrey believes stronger.

"I think, under the circumstances, we went back and built as strong a case as we could, hence the long time frame," Parrey said.

The director acknowledged the similarities, including the codefendants, but highlighted that the city has changed.

While gangs often use intimidation  - and violence - to enforce their drug turfs, as authorities alleged the suspects did in and around Southard Street in this case, Parrey was buoyed by the fact that citizen complaints played a large role.

The director said his office received direct complaints from residents of suspected criminal activity on Southard Street. "And once we got My Block up and running, we heard a lot from the area," Parrey said.

My Block is an online form residents can use to report crime and other police issues that Parrey launched in 2015. Residents have the option to leave contact information, or provide the information anonymously.

Williams is currently charged with 14 felonies. 

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.