OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A multi-year investigation into a prison-based drug trafficking organization has resulted in 69 defendants being convicted across multiple state and federal cases.

Last month, Chance Alan Wilson, aka Wolfhead, leader of the Universal Aryan Brotherhood (UAB) serving a state sentence of 15 years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary for Murder, was sentenced to serve an additional 360 months in federal prison after being found to be primarily responsible for the distribution of hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and other drugs over many years.

Federal investigators say Wilson and other UAB members relied on a network outside of prison to handle the distribution of the methamphetamine.

Over the course of the investigation, federal, state and local law enforcement identified and targeted the network and the drug houses they ran on Wilson’s behalf. 

Wilson ran the operation from inside prison using contraband cell phones, federal officials say.

“This is another wide-spread drug trafficking operation that was primarily directed and controlled by incarcerated gang members using contraband cell phones from their state prison cells,” said United States Attorney Robert J. Troester. “I am grateful for the outstanding work by law enforcement and prosecutors who have held these defendants accountable, removed deadly poison from the streets, and taken guns out of the hands of criminals.”

In the end, 69 individuals associated with the UAB’s operations have been charged and convicted, in both state and federal court.

Collectively, the individuals charged federally have been sentenced to 418 years in custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 216 years of supervised release.

“Criminal gangs constitute a significant threat to public safety. Yet, even while incarcerated, criminal gang members like Chance Wilson and his cohorts continue their money laundering and drug trafficking schemes,” said Robert Melton, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the HSI Dallas – Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle Division. “This defendant’s lengthy prison sentence and indictments of 69 other co-conspirators exemplify Homeland Security Investigations and our partner agencies’ commitment to dismantling these criminal gangs and Transnational Criminal Organizations.”

Crimes for which the defendants were convicted include drug trafficking, drug conspiracy, money laundering, maintaining drug premises and illegal firearms possession.

During the investigation, law enforcement seized 62 firearms, more than 300 pounds of methamphetamine and more than $400,000 in drug proceeds.

“This multi-agency investigation demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement at all levels to disrupting criminal enterprises operating behind prison walls,” said FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray. “The citizens of Oklahoma are safer today because of the massive amount of methamphetamine, weapons, and drug proceeds removed from our communities.”