48°
Leevander Wade had previously pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Phillip Sellinger said.
In February 2018, the drug enterprise’s leader, Michael Healy, found out that one of his conspirators in the drug trafficking enterprise was providing information to law enforcement, Sellinger said.
Healy ordered members of the Bloods in East Orange to kill the informant, Sellinger said. At the time, Wade was a manager in the enterprise and ran a series of stash houses in Essex County used to package heroin and fentanyl for street-level distribution, Sellinger said.
Wade – who shared a close relationship with one of the leaders of the East Orange Bloods – assisted Healy in contracting the East Orange Bloods to carry out the murder of the informant, Sellinger said.
The East Orange Bloods, acting on Healy and Wade's behalf, shot and killed a bystander in Bloomfield, believing he was the informant, Sellinger said. The bystander had been parked outside the informant's residence driving a similar vehicle to the informant, Sellinger said.
Healy ordered the Bloods to finish the job and the informant was killed a month later while walking his dog, Sellinger said. In April 2018, another man was killed by Healy because they believed he was an informant, Sellinger said. Wade drove Healy to and from the murder scene and helped destroy evidence by hiring someone to burn the vehicle, Sellinger said.
Three men involved in the murders pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, Sellinger said. In April, Healy was convicted of multiple counts of murder in aid of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, and various gun and drug offenses, Sellinger said.. Healy is scheduled to be sentenced in October where he faces mandatory life sentences, Sellinger said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Maplewood and receive free news updates.
