The Justice Department announced the successful takedown of a large meth-dealing ring on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, which has led to 27 arrests and federal convictions so far.
In a press conference in Billings on Nov. 14, Jesse Laslovich, U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana, joined members of the FBI, BIA and DEA to walk back through the multi-agency investigation, called Operation Spear Siding, which started in June 2022.
That’s when federal agents started the large-scale investigation into two houses on the Crow Reservation, one called Spear Siding, where local dealers worked with Mexican drug cartels to sell pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl on four Montana reservations and in Billings, Havre, Laurel.
DEA agents describe the drug-ring as a multi-million dollar business and proceeds of the drug sales went to Washington, California and Mexico.
Along with money, guns were exchanged for drugs by the Montana-based dealers.
Laslovich praised law enforcement and attorneys for their work and said the 27 people convicted for their roles in the drug ring were sentenced to a cumulative 165 years in prison. But Laslovich says the problem goes beyond the supply.
Beyond the 27 arrests two cartel members at the top of the Spear Siding drug ring are still listed as fugitives being pursued by federal agents.
