A high-ranking Jersey City gang member was convicted of cocaine possession with intent to distribute after a two-day trial this week, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced.
Jamil King, 32, of Jersey City, was convicted after a two-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court. The jury deliberated two hours before returning the guilty verdict, Sellinger said in a statement.
King is a high-ranking member of the Jersey City neighborhood street gang known as Parkside. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for King’s residence, and during the evening of July 8th, 2022, officers executed that warrant, court documents show.
When the police arrived, King fled, but law enforcement recovered approximately 50 grams of cocaine from a pair of sweatpants inside the apartment. Those sweatpants contained the defendant’s DNA and matched the sweatshirt that the defendant was wearing that night.
The count on which King was convicted is punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for October 23rd.
Sellinger credited the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Director James Shea, for the investigation leading to the conviction.
He also thanked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Field Division, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Ross A. Marchetti.
This investigation was conducted as part of the Jersey City Violent Crime Initiative (VCI).
The VCI was formed in 2018 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Jersey City Police Department, for the sole purpose of combatting violent crime in and around Jersey City.