South Los Angeles gang member pleads guilty to running drug ring

A gang leader pleaded guilty Friday to federal drug and firearms charges for running a crack cocaine ring in and around the Nickerson Gardens public housing projects in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Damion “Fatts” Baker, 45, of Compton, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Baker is the lead defendant in an April 2021 indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court targeting members and associates of the street gang for drug- and firearm-related crimes.

According to his plea agreement, from August 2019 to May 2020, Baker organized and led a drug trafficking ring in which he and his accomplices agreed to distribute cocaine. Specifically, Baker arranged to obtain powder cocaine from at least two drug suppliers. He then directed his co-conspirators to cook, and would himself cook, the powder cocaine and manufacture it into crack cocaine to sell to customers, including back to his powder cocaine suppliers to sell in crack form.

Baker admitted in his plea agreement to possessing a firearm in May 2020. He was not permitted to do so because he previously had been convicted of felonies in Los Angeles Superior Court, including a cocaine possession charge in 1998 and a domestic violence-related charge in 2001. He admitted in his plea agreement that he possessed the firearm for the purpose of protecting his crack cocaine distribution business.

He also agreed to forfeit the firearm and $44,600 in cash law enforcement seized at his residence in Compton and at another residence in San Pedro.

U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha scheduled a July 14 sentencing hearing, at which time Baker will face a sentence of between five and 40 years in federal prison for the drug trafficking conspiracy charge, and up 10 years for the firearms offense.

The other 11 defendants in this indictment either have pleaded guilty or signed plea agreements and await sentencing, prosecutors noted.