Another “EastSideHigh” High Defendant Sentenced to Prison

A member of the “EastSideHigh” darkweb drug trafficking organization was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

Allante Pires, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute MDMA, Ketamine, and Alprazolam. Pires, along with co-conspirators Binh Thanh Le and Steven McCall, sold drugs through the darkweb under the username “EastSideHigh.”

U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel sentenced Pires to 28 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

As part of the investigation into the vendor, undercover Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents posed as money launderers and arranged a meeting with the defendants.

From a previous Darknetlive article:

“In March 2019, Inspector Gentiluomo and another postal inspector (UC) met with Le at a hotel. The parties agreed to exchange $200,000 in Bitcoin in a wired hotel room. After Le had sent the Bitcoin to the address provided by the feds, the second postal inspector pretended to be having problems with his cellphone. He asked Le to open the wallet application on his phone and verify that the transaction had been completed. Le handed his unlocked phone to the postal inspector. After the postal inspector had possession of Le’s phone, postal inspectors and state police entered the room and detained Le.”

“After being advised of his rights per Miranda, Le voluntarily provided law enforcement officers with his password.”

“After detaining Le, other officers approached Pires’ Mercedes, which was still in the hotel’s parking lot. They detained Pires and asked him about the keys on his key ring. Pires identified one as the key to the office space in Stoughton. Other law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the office space where they encountered McCall wearing a respirator.”

Le pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute MDMA, Ketamine, and Alprazolam. On March 10, 2022, a judge sentenced Le to eight years in prison and three years of supervised release. The judge ordered Le to forfeit more than 59 Bitcoin, $114,680 in cash, the proceeds from a 2018 BMW M3 sale, a pill press, and a currency counter.

McCall has a sentencing hearing scheduled for September 28, 2022.

In addition to the investigative techniques described above and in previous darknetlive articles about the case, the feds used evidence from a music video to build their case.

In the criminal complaint, Inspector Gentiluomo points to the existence of a “music” video on YouTube titled “MTS - ALL FOR THE GANG.” The video, uploaded by MTS Entertainment on January 3, 2019, contains “various individuals of interest to law enforcement.” Gentiluomo learned about the video on January 11, 2019. Part of the video was filmed at the office space in Stoughton. A pill press is visible in the background of the scenes filmed in the office space. The postal inspector wrote that the bag beside the pill press contained powder.

Complaint pdf

Indictment pdf