Pittsburgh man pleads guilty to dealing cocaine from Sheraden convenience store

A Pittsburgh man pleaded guilty to dealing cocaine from a convenience store he owned in the city’s Sheraden neighborhood, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Willie Harris, 40, admitted to conspiring to sell more than 500 grams of cocaine — or more than a pound — out of Woogie’s Mini Market on Chartiers Avenue as part of his guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said.

Prosecutors said that Harris’ drug operation lasted at least from November 2017 through June of last year, when he and more than two dozen others were arrested in a broader drug trafficking case linked to the criminal gang known as the Greenway Boy Killas, or GBK.

Harris was among 28 suspects nabbed last summer in the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration’s far-reaching wiretap probe targeting the drug ring with ties to the West End and an area the FBI refers to as the “Greenway Projects.” A federal grand jury accused the alleged gang members and their informants of plotting to sell large amounts of crack cocaine, powdered cocaine and heroin.

At least 10 of the suspects have since pleaded guilty to drug, conspiracy and firearms charges.

Harris will remain behind bars until his sentencing, which is scheduled for May 18.

Sentencing guidelines call for not less than 10 years and up to life in prison, and a fine up to $8 million, Brady said.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Tonya Sulia Goodman and Yvonne M. Saadi prosecuted the case.

The investigation was funded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which provides money for federal and state agencies to collaborate on major drug cases. Agents with the FBI and DEA worked with state police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office and police from Pittsburgh, Robinson, Stowe, Wilkinsburg and McKees Rocks.

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