KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City police and FBI agents arrested 12 people in connection with a significant drug case in the metro on Tuesday. Over the course of this investigation, officers seized more than six kilograms of cocaine, $200,000 in cash and six firearms total. Twenty-one men are now charged with trafficking cocaine and crack cocaine in the metro.
It’s a topic retired FBI agent and local crime author Michael Tabman is an expert on.
“I think it’s a fair amount. Even when I look back to when I was investigating drug crimes in New York City back in the 80’s and 90’s, five-to-six kilos was a pretty good haul for an operation,” Tabman said.
According to court documents, KCPD officers seized more than six kilograms, or 13 pounds, of cocaine as it was being delivered in a backpack to 36-year-old Frenklyn Piggie at a home on East 51st Terrace.
After examining the court documents, Tabman called the key players in this case, Frenklyn Piggie , James Caldwell, Olufemi Siffre and Jesus Frye-Santoyo, “amateurs.”
“They did make some classically stupid moves for drug trafficking,” said Tabman, who also lauded the investigators. “This was very good police work. This was a solid investigation, but this particular organization seems to be very low on the food chain.”
Small time dealers or not, according to court documents, during the largest of the uncovered drug deals, police caught Piggie holding a gun with a thirty-round extended magazine next to a chair full of drugs and hundreds of thousands of dollars cash.
“That’s someone who is ready for trouble. Okay, ready for action. That could do a lot of damage very quickly. These are the kinds of weapons we don’t want in the hands of violent people,” Tabman said.
Tabman credits local law enforcement for getting what he called, “stupid, risky, and dangerous men” off the streets. All 21 defendants made their initial court appearance on Tuesday. Piggie, Siffre, Santoyo and Caldwell face between five years and life in prison.
