KANSAS CITY — In the Spring of 1987, Paige began hawking “crack” cocaine on the street corners of Kansas City, Mo. Within 1 year, Paige progressed from a street corner dealer to the head of an illegal drug enterprise.
By Dec. 1987, the Kansas City Police Drug Enforcement Unit had information that Paige was a major cocaine distributor in the metropolitan area. The unit contacted ATF for assistance in the formation of a task force directed at the Paige organization. This request was based in part on intelligence that Paige and his employees routinely used machine guns in furtherance of their narcotics trafficking activities.
In Jan. 1988, the task force received a court order authorizing a Title III wiretap on the residence of a subject known to be a frequent cocaine supplier to the Paige organization. Information obtained from the wiretap led to the execution of four key search warrants.
Crippled by the seizures of narcotics, cash, and real property, Paige resorted to finding new “crack houses” to sustain his operation. Paige and his employees used such violent tactics as drive-by shootings, pistol whippings and assaults.
On March 16, 1988, indictments were returned by a Federal Grand Jury charging Paige and 11 criminal associates for firearms violations, trafficking in cocaine, money laundering and conducting a continuing criminal enterprise.
On June 17, 1988, Paige and six other defendants were convicted in Federal District Court as charged. The five remaining defendants had previously plead guilty to various violations outlined in the indictment.
On Sept. 2, 1988, Paige received 65 years imprisonment and was fined $279,877.
The remaining defendants received sentences ranging from 45 months to 50 years. (Source: ATF)
