The Detroit-West Virginia Drug Connection Absorbs Another Blow, “Tank” Smith Slapped With Life Term

Continuing to combat the forces pulling from Motown that flood Appalachia with drugs, a judge in West Virginia sentenced Detroit native Donald (Tank) Smith to life in state prison for a series of narcotics offenses, incarcerating him under a habitual offender statute. He was indicted four times between 2016 and 2017. The 35-year old Smith will be eligible for parole in 2033.

The state of West Virginia, especially the city of Huntington, where Smith’s most recent four cases spawn from, has been battling a drug pipeline from the Motor City for decades. Just this year alone, Smith is one of more than a dozen Detroiters to be brought to justice in the Huntington area for narcotics-trafficking activity. Smith’s criminal activity started in Detroit in the early 2000s before moving to Ohio and Kentucky.

West Virginia authorities have filed three major indictments targeting drug pushers from Michigan since the beginning of the year. Two crew leaders of the Young N’ Scandalous Gang out of Detroit’s Northwest side Brightmore neighborhood, went down in February. The Peterson Family organization went down in the spring.