News Release
For Immediate Release:
January 09, 2009
Contact: Special Agent Tony Pettigrew
Number: 617-557-2138

Mattapan Gang Member Sentenced to 18 Years on Drug Charges

JAN 09 -- Boston, MA. A Mattapan gang member was sentenced late yesterday to 18 years in federal prison.

Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, and Police Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department announce that BLAKE FIELDS, age 25, of Mattapan, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment after being convicted by a federal jury on September 26, 2008. FIELDS was convicted on one count of distribution of more than 5 grams of cocaine base within 1000 feet of a school. Evidence presented at trial showed that FIELDS sold $300 worth of crack cocaine within 1000 feet of the Solomon Lewenberg Middle School in Mattapan.

FIELDS was a member of the Favre Street gang, a Boston street gang whose violent disputes with other Boston gangs have led to numerous fatal and non-fatal shootings in Mattapan and Dorchester.

U.S. District Judge William G. Young sentenced FIELDS to 18 years in prison to be followed by 8 years of supervised release. A special condition of FIELDS’ supervised release is that he not associate with any gang or gang members.

The case was investigated by the Boston Police Department’s Special InvestigationsUnit, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration.