Federal authorities have dismantled a Detroit narcotics conspiracy operating in West Virginia for the past 15 years. On Tuesday, reputed kingpin Willie (Chill) Peterson and his younger brother and alleged second-in-command Manget (Money) Peterson were apprehended as part of the DEA’s Operation Saigon Sunset. The elder Peterson was arrested in Detroit, while his baby bro got taken into custody in Huntington, West Virginia, the hub of the Peterson organization’s Appalachian drug empire. The Peterson brothers were part of a 30-person roundup of their operation. Another 50 people unconnected to the Peterson troop were indicted this week in West Virginia as well as part of an adjoining drug sting. The DEA began investigating the Peterson gang in 2017. According to the indictment, the gang trafficked in heroin and cocaine. Government raids targeting the Petersons dating back to last spring have yielded 760 grams of “H,” 450 grams of the lethal cutting agent fentanyl and 170 grams of coke. West Virginia, specifically, Huntington, has long been a Detroit drug-dealing outpost. Detroiters in the drug game refer to Huntington as “Moneyton,” for the cash the Appalachian narcotics depot generates for the boys up north. In addition to the Peterson bust, there have been two other high-profile drug-conspiracy indictments in Huntington involving Motor City heroin pushers since the beginning of the year, one involving the notorious Young ‘N Scandalous gang out of Detroit’s Westside back in January.
