Source: Office of United States Attorneys
WASHINGTON – Andre Alonte Willis, 33, of Washington, D.C., and a leader of the Push Dat Shit (PDS) street crew, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 240 months in prison on five felony convictions related to drug trafficking and firearms offenses in the District of Columbia.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean T. Ryan of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, ATF Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Washington Field Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
On September 12, 2024, a jury convicted Willis, also known as “Boogie,” of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana; conspiracy to use, carry, and possess firearms and machine guns in furtherance of drug trafficking; illegal possession and transfer of a machine gun; possession with intent to distribute marijuana; and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
Evidence at trial proved that Willis was a “big homie” in the D.C. street crew known as “Push Dat Shit” or “PDS,” and was the gang’s primary source of exotic strains of marijuana that he acquired from a variety of sources in California. FBI agents seized $150,000 in cash, along with a loaded handgun and marijuana packaged for distribution from Willis’ apartment when he was arrested.
PDS maintained gang territory on the 3300 – 3500 blocks of Wheeler Road, Southeast, and adjacent areas, and operated an open air drug market outside the Holiday Market. In approximately August 2018, PDS became allied with a neighboring street gang known as Jugg Gang, or “JG.” Between August 2018 and April 2023, members of the allied PDS/JG street crew sold drugs from Holiday Market and from “trap houses” that they maintained in apartment buildings surrounding that location.
As their drug business grew, PDS/JG became the target of drive-by shootings conducted by rival gangs – shootings they referred to as “spinning the block.” Beginning in approximately August 2019, a PDS/JG member began assembling and distributing fully automatic AR-Pistol assault rifles that he purchased as “kits” from online retailers. Such firearms are defined as “privately made firearms” by the ATF but are frequently referred to as “ghost guns” on the street. PDS/JG members used, carried, and possessed these “ghost gun” AR-Pistol machine guns in order to both defend their territory from rival gangs, but also to “spin the block” on rival gangs in order to deter and dissuade the rivals from entering PDS/JG territory. PDS/JG members “kept score” with rival gangs, and the points earned by “spinning the block” varied depending on the “importance” of the people that were injured or killed
In calculating Willis’ sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson included sentencing enhancements based on her finding that the conspiracy involved between 400 and 700 kilograms of marijuana, as well as her findings that Willis was a leader of more than five people in jointly-undertaken criminal conduct, and that he recklessly created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to others in the course of fleeing from the FBI to avoid arrest. Wills was also ordered to serve a five-year term of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.
This case was investigated by the FBI, ATF, and MPD. The matter was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Nelson and Justin Song and Paralegal Specialist Melissa Macechko.