Chappaqua Drug Dealer Robbed Cartel, Smuggled Coke To Inmates

CHAPPAQUA, NY — A 45-year-old Westchester man's brazen robbery of a Puerto Rico-based drug cartel left several people injured, but even after law enforcement caught up with the man, he continued to play a dangerous game from behind bars.

Prosecutors describe an initial heist that reads more like a scene from "The Wire" than real life.

In May 2019, a Bronx-based member of a Puerto Rico-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) was expecting a delivery of furniture concealing approximately 176 kilograms of the DTO’s cocaine, according to just unsealed federal court documents. Deejay White and his accomplices learned of the expected shipment and planned a violent robbery of the cartel's cocaine. On May 29, White parked outside the Bronx apartment where the cocaine was stored while four accomplices forced their way into the apartment and held up the ten victims, including four children, at gunpoint.

Two victims were pistol-whipped during the robbery and a third was seriously injured after jumping out of the apartment’s third-floor window in an attempt to flee. One of the robbers threw a duffel bag containing the cocaine into White’s car, which then drove off.

Federal prosecutors said White being taken into custody did little to slow his determination to build a drug empire of his own.

"Deejay White was responsible for a dangerous gunpoint robbery of more than one hundred kilograms of cocaine that left several victims injured," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said today. "Even after he was arrested and in jail, facing up to a life sentence on those charges, Deejay White continued to commit crimes. Deejay White and his wife, Dawntiana White, placed inmates, staff, and court personnel in grave danger by smuggling drugs and a firearm into a federal detention facility."

White was arrested on November 25, 2019 for his part in the robbery and conspiracy to distribute the stolen cocaine. He was ordered to be detained and housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan. Days later, White began using contraband cellphones to conspire with others, including his wife, Dawntiana White, to commit additional crimes. Among other things, White directed his wife to smuggle drugs to him in jail.

In January 2020, White convinced his wife and other associates to have a firearm and drugs smuggled to him in jail. After they successfully smuggled the firearm and contraband into the MCC, White confirmed to his 38-year-old wife that he had received the firearm.

On February 26, Bureau of Prisons officials discovered a contraband cellphone in White's cell and transferred him to the Specialized Housing Unit (SHU). Following a search of the entire prison, on March 5, 2020, the firearm, which was loaded, was found inside a wall of White's cell.

Deejay White was convicted of conspiracy to commit a Hobbs Act robbery, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Dawntiana White previously pled guilty to narcotics conspiracy, prison contraband conspiracy, obstruction of justice, two counts of wire fraud and perjury.

Deejay White is scheduled to be sentenced on May 17. Dawntiana White is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14.