Pensacola rap group members plead guilty to cocaine trafficking

<p>Four members of a rap group that authorities say served as a front for drug ring have pleaded guilty to federal cocaine trafficking charges.</p><p>The four Warrington Celebrities entered their pleas Tuesday to charges of conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilograms of powder cocaine and 50 grams of crack cocaine. U.S. District Judge Lacey Collier set sentencing April 27.</p><p>Four other defendants indicted in the case have pleaded innocent and a ninth remained at large.</p><p>They were getting kilogram levels of cocaine in Atlanta and driving it back here to distribute, said Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Charlie Gravat. He said the drugs were distributed mainly in and around a low-income housing complex.</p><p>James D. Warren, 33; Edward K. Newell, 26, and Terry M. Newkirk, 27, are facing mandatory sentences of life in prison because of prior convictions, but Collier could reduce their terms if prosecutors find they have provided substantial assistance to the investigation.</p><p>Newells brother, Michael V. Newell, 22, has no prior record and faces 10 years to life, with less also possible in return for cooperating with investigators.</p><p>Much of the evidence against the quartet came from some of 14 defendants previously convicted during a four-year investigation of the drug ring.</p><p>The arrests are unrelated to a more celebrated Pensacola area drug ring broken up by another investigation dubbed Operation Sandshaker. That case has resulted in 53 arrests on state or federal charges of conspiracy, trafficking and possession of powdered cocaine.</p><p>In contrast with the rappers, most Sandshaker defendants are middle-aged and middle- to upper-income, including a millionaire and two lawyers, hold steady jobs and have no prior criminal records. Many of them live at Pensacola Beach or in suburban Gulf Breeze.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2866370)</p>