Investigators seize documents, cash, drugs in ongoing probe

Investigators with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office executed search warrants at more than a dozen locations in South Philadelphia on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into a drug-dealing and loansharking operation.

No arrests were made, but law-enforcement sources confirmed that the targets of the probe included two convicted narcotics traffickers with alleged ties to organized crime and the Pagans motorcyle club.

Documents, cash, and a small quantity of prescription drugs were seized, according to those sources. The search warrants targeted apartments and homes.

The detailed search warrants and investigative affidavits were filed under seal and cannot be reviewed by the public.

The cover sheet of one search warrant indicated that authorities were looking for documents, records, and other evidence tied to loansharking and the illegal sale of prescription medications.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Erik Olsen, whose office is coordinating the investigation, declined to comment.

The investigation began several months ago, according to one law-enforcement source familiar with the probe, and was focused on the illegal sale of prescription medications including oxycodone, Percocet, and certain cough syrups.

Based on wiretaps and evidence supplied through surveillance and informants, the probe expanded into a loansharking operation that may be linked to a high-ranking South Philadelphia organized-crime figure.

Investigators have surveilled at least one of the major drug dealers meeting with the mob figure at a bar in South Philadelphia that is frequented by organized crime figures, according to two law-enforcement sources involved in the probe.

The bar was one of several locations targeted last year by the Attorney General's Office in an investigation into the illegal video-poker-machine business.