ECI drug operation allegedly lead to violence

massive smuggling operation at eastern correctional institution in westover – that resulted in the federal indictments of 80 people. 47 abc’s julian sadur has been working the case since it first broke wednesday – and now has more on the violence that was allegedly associated with this operation. pod with as big as the drug trafficking scandal was at e-c-i – officials say violence was sure to come. in going through federal documents we were able to find some of those violent acts associated with this massive conspiracy. we bring them to you now to shed light on just how dangerous of operation this was – not only to inmates and correctional officers – but also to those outside the prison walls. this is the fuel that drives the criminal organizations within the prison track1 that’s united states attorney rod rosenstein at a press conference wednesday — talking about massive drug smuggling operations – that funnel money into the hands of criminals locked way – the same operations that were functioning at e-c-i – marylands largest prison. we found that much of the violence at eci, just like on the street was associated with drug trafficking and if we put an end to the drug trafficking we can put an end to a lot of related criminal activity that arises from it track2 going through both the federal indictments and affidavits – we’ve already found some of the violence he was alluding too. beginning first – in june of last year when a prisoner – zachary martin a-k-a dice – asked one of his outside facilitators in a phone conversationto use a gun to intimidate those on the outside – saying in a phone conversation – quote – man i’m talking about that pistol -and explaining that he needs those on the outside to see that he means business. moving to october 20 2015 – when inmate troy johnson tells one of his facilitators that an inmate had asked blood gang members to assault him – but –in a twist — johnson reportedly said he knew the blood member they asked to hurt him and that person — was quote more loyal to him– and would assault the other inmate instead. in the winter of 2015 – c-o travis dennis – who was at one point allegedly smuggling contraband in – tells another officer he had a hit put out on him. dennis reportedly said he was moved from the east compound to the west compound — because the black guerilla family gang had put a 100 thousand dollar hit out on him. then in july of this year – two stabbings – reportedly ordered by correctional officers. first co rachelle hankerson ordered a blood gang member she was working with to stab another inmate at her request. then 10 days later co stephen wise ordering an inmate to stab a different inmate that had filed a complaint against him- a move that apparently affected wise’s business. pod now those two officers that ordered stabbings – hankerson and wise – both faced civil rights charges in addition to racketeering charges. i’m told by federal officials that they appeared in court thursday for detention hearings and that both are being detained pending trial. now all 80 participants in this e-c-i scandal face up to 20 years in federal prison for their actions -but hankerson, wise and the two inmates who allegedly carried out the stabbings also face a max of 10 years. that’s 47 abc’s julian sadur reporting for us. we want to remind that all the people indicted in this case are to presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. to see and read more of our coverage on the e-c-i drug smuggling operation – just head to over to our website 47 abc dot