Arrested Monday, Alfonso "Fonnie" Caldwell, 37, a former Chester resident, paroled murderer and drug "kingpin" who has eluded "hits" on his life since he was 19, had leased the unit at the Camden/Summit Valleybrook Apartments, according to a pair of federal indictments unsealed Monday.
The Concord apartment, as well as one on Daphne Street in West Philadelphia and a location on West Third Street in Chester, among others, aided Caldwell in running what Acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid called an international cocaine operation.
"The name Alfonso Caldwell is well-known to law enforcement," Magid said at a press conference Monday afternoon, announcing cocaine trafficking and money laundering offenses against Caldwell between October 2005 and September 2006.
"Caldwell was not some small-time drug operator," Magid said. "Tens of thousands of dollars were changing hands during drug transactions, money and drugs were being trucked across national borders, and stash houses were set up in residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Chester. Thankfully, we have shut down this drug operation."
Caldwell, who faces a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, up to life, was in custody at the federal detention center.
Authorities apprehended Caldwell early Monday without incident at his Delaware residence - a luxury home with decorative lawn topiaries and ornate hardscape.
Between 2003-2006, federal authorities said more than $500,000 passed through bank accounts attributable to Caldwell. During that same tax period, Caldwell reported "modest income."
In an interview with federal authorities in January 2008, Caldwell admitted that during 2005 and 2006, he paid about $1.5 million to the Mexican suppliers.
Monday night, a senior citizen who has resided at Camden/Summit Valleybrook Apartments for five years and asked not to be identified, said she is not surprised or shocked by much nowadays.
"But I think I would have been horrified to know that was going on," she said of the Mexican visitors two years ago.
When told of the elements described in the indictment, the woman said, "I've never seen anything like what you are describing.
"This is a very lovely area, very well-kept. There is a very strong working staff," she said.
Joining Magid at the press conference was Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green and Pennsylvania State Police Capt. David Young, as well as representatives from several federal agencies involved in the probe.
Both Magid and Green said the investigation is ongoing, though they declined to discuss any activities involving Caldwell since September 2006. In August 2006, Caldwell took a bullet in the arm but managed to dodge what Chester police at the time counted as the fifth attempted hit on his life.
Green noted the investigation leading to the indictments began when a Pennsylvania State Police trooper made a vehicle stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset County, about 6 a.m. Sept. 20, 2006.
Confiscated following a search of the vehicle was four kilograms of cocaine - a purchase made the night before in Chester from Caldwell by the driver who is identified as L.W. in court papers.
Between October 2005 and September 2006, authorities alleged Caldwell made eight sales to L.W., totaling 11 kilograms of cocaine to L.W.
Caldwell - charging $20,000 for each kilogram - sold one and a half kilos of sham substance on one occasion. Those sales occurred primarily in Chester and Philadelphia.
On Sept. 30, 2006, Caldwell admitted to state police that L.W. was a cocaine customer, and he implicated another individual in several of the sales to L.W., the indictment states.
At the time, Caldwell gave consent to search a West Philadelphia apartment he used to store cocaine. With a key provided by Caldwell, troopers searched the apartment and confiscated multiple paraphernalia, $10,080 in cash, and four loaded pistols and a 12-gauge shotgun.
Caldwell also showed the troopers a hidden compartment in his vehicle that he used to transport money and cocaine, according to the documents.
Authorities allege that as early as 2006, Caldwell began receiving large shipments of cocaine and marijuana from his suppliers in Mexico. The suppliers used tractor-trailers to make the deliveries.
On some occasions, Caldwell paid the truck drivers for the cocaine. Other times, he paid the suppliers who traveled to Pennsylvania to collect the money from him.
In August 2006, authorities allege Caldwell received about 17 kilograms of coke and 250 pounds of marijuana from the Mexican suppliers. The Mexican suppliers arrived Aug. 1 and stayed at the Concord apartment.
Investigators saw the Mexican suppliers leaving the apartment Aug. 7. They had a large brown box with them. The suppliers drove to a Federal Express/Kinko's in Delaware, where they deposited the box for delivery. When searched, the box was found to contain a coffeepot. Inside the pot was $110,090, according to the indictment.
On Aug. 10, 2006, Caldwell took a bullet in the arm - just hours after three men were held for trial for trying to kill him and four state troopers in June 2006. Authorities in Chester suspected that years of bad blood between two rival drug organizations resurfaced when the drive-by hit on Caldwell outside a West End garage occurred, and failed.
Caldwell was 19 when he was shot twice in the neck as he stood talking with friends on a Chester street corner in 1991.
According to the indictment, Caldwell is currently on parole for a 1990 murder in Philadelphia. He was found guilty of murder as well as possessing an instrument of crime. He was sentenced to serve 10 to 20 years for the murder and two to five years for possessing an instrument of crime.
Assisting in the probe were members from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
