Heroin Supplier Sentenced to 18 Years

March 18, 2022 – A 59-year-old man convicted earlier this year as a major heroin supplier for a Memphis street gang was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

A Criminal Court jury in February convicted Derrick Johnson on two felony counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to sell heroin, a controlled substance, over 150 grams. He was sentenced by Judge Glenn Wright.

Johnson was arrested following an undercover investigation by the Memphis Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit. According to evidence in the trial, Johnson was one of several major suppliers of heroin for the Dixie Homes Murda Squad in 2017.

The investigation outlined the narcotics supply chain that included gang members using multiple cellphones in arranging to drop off large amounts of money at Johnson’s home on Goodland Avenue in exchange for heroin that was sometimes mixed with fentanyl.

Investigators said Johnson sometimes sold up to 500 grams – more than a pound – of heroin to the street level dealers in the gang. Another dealer and some two dozen gang members have been convicted or pled guilty in the case.

The case was handled by Asst. Dist. Atty. Chris Scruggs of the District Attorney’s Crime Strategies & Narcotics Prosecution Unit which handles cases that include gangs, violent crimes and narcotics trafficking.