DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Western District of New York

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, July 8, 2015
William J. Hochul, Jr.
, United States Attorney
Contact: Barbara Burns

Two Schuele Boys Gang Associates Plead Guilty to Drug Charges

BUFFALO, N.Y. — U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that two Schuele Boys Gang associates pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. Benjamin Peoples, aka Beans, 26, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine which carries a penalty up to 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.  Shawntorrian Travis, 35, also of Buffalo, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana. That charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney George C. Burgasser, who is handling the case, stated that between June 2013 and July 2014, Peoples purchased cocaine from co-defendant Michael Robertson which he then re-sold in the Buffalo area. Travis sold marijuana to co-defendant Damario James for redistribution.

The Schuele Boys Gang, which operated in the Schuele Street area of the East Side of Buffalo, is believed to be responsible for multiple acts of violence and the distribution of illegal narcotics including cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana.

Peoples and Travis were arrested along with 14 other Schuele Boys Gang members and associates in July 2014. To date, nine of the defendants have been convicted. On March 24, 2015, an additional seven members and associates were indicted. Four other Schuele Boys members were indicted separately.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the FBI's Safe Streets Task Force which includes representatives of the Amherst Police Department; the Buffalo Police Department; U.S. Border Patrol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Cheektowaga Police Department; the Erie County Sheriff’s Department; the Hamburg Police Department; the Lancaster Police Department; the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police; the New York State Department of Correctional Services; the New York State Police; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations. Additional assistance was provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration; U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the United States Marshal Service, the Lackawanna Police Department, and the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department.

Shawntorrian Travis will be sentenced on October 14, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. Peoples sentencing is scheduled for October 26, 2015 at 1:00 p.m., both before Judge Arcara.

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New York Field Division