COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two members of a Columbus gang were found guilty Wednesday of conspiring to traffic more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana, according to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker.
The attorney's office said jurors deliberated for less than six hours before finding 35-year-old Klegewerges Abate and 34-year-old Abubakarr Savage guilty on all counts. The two are members of the Third World Mob gang in Columbus.
Abate was convicted of conspiring to traffic at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, firearms offenses and wire fraud related to illegally obtaining COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.
Savage was charged with and convicted of conspiring to distribute at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.
According to court documents and trial testimony, Third World Mob members brought hundreds of pounds of marijuana into Ohio from other states like California and Georgia to sell in central Ohio.
Co-conspirators used rental houses or houses leased or owned in other individuals’ names as “stash houses" to facilitate drug trafficking and to store significant amounts of cash.
In August 2019, Abate and others possessed a suitcase with approximately $940,000 in cash in it in a house on Phlox Avenue in Blacklick, the attorney's office said.
During a November 2022 search of a residence on Chapel Stone Road in Blacklick, law enforcement officials found Abate and two of his co-conspirators, along with more than 700 kilograms of marijuana and three firearms.
Third World Mob leaders and members used violence and the threat of violence to maintain authority over their drug trafficking, according to Parker's office.
Surveillance video presented at trial showed Abate, a convicted felon, shooting a man at a restaurant in Columbus. Jurors also heard testimony about numerous shootings, a pistol-whipping and other acts of intimidation.
In total, seven members of the Third World Mob have been charged federally since 2021.
