Prolific Drug Distributor with Lengthy Criminal Record Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Role in Drug Ring Tied to Aryan Prison Gang
Defendant with Prior Convictions for Multiple Assaults, Identity Theft, and Burglary, has been Involved with Criminal Justice System Since Age 11
TACOMA, Wash. – A 52-year-old Tukwila, Washington resident was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 120 months in prison. Anthony Escoto was indicted in connection with a two-year investigation of drug trafficking organizations connected to the Aryan Family and Omerta prison gangs. At the sentencing hearing Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said, “Controlled substances cause a huge amount of damage… the damage is not just to the individual but also to the community.”
According to records filed in the case Escoto was repeatedly heard on the wiretap investigation ordering up pound quantities of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills for distribution to his drug customers. Following one drug deal the car Escoto was riding in was stopped by police. The co-defendant driving Escoto claimed the drugs in the car were his. Investigators had heard Escoto making the deal over the wiretap and knew the drugs belonged to Escoto. When authorities searched Escoto’s residence on March 22, 2023, they found more methamphetamine and two firearms, a shotgun and an SKS rifle, which as a felon he is prohibited from possessing.
Escoto denies being a member of an Aryan prison gang but has multiple neo-Nazi tattoos and was previously charged with assault for biting a prison guard while yelling racial slurs. He has an adult criminal history spanning more than three decades with convictions for aggravated assault, identity theft, drug trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon, obstruction of justice and domestic assault.
On March 22, 2023, law enforcement made two dozen arrests on federal charges. The coordinated takedown involved ten swat teams and more than 350 law enforcement officers. On that day law enforcement seized 177 firearms, more than ten kilos of methamphetamine, 11 kilos of fentanyl pills and more than a kilo of fentanyl powder, three kilos of heroin, and more than $330,000 in cash from eighteen locations in Washington and Arizona. Earlier in the investigation law enforcement seized 830,000 fentanyl pills, 5.5 pounds of fentanyl powder, 223 pounds of methamphetamine, 3.5 pounds of heroin, 5 pounds of cocaine, $388,000 in cash, and 48 firearms.
On April 22, 2025, Escoto pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
The top-level leader of the drug trafficking ring, Jesse Bailey, was sentenced in July to 17.5 years in prison. Prosecutors recommended a 13-year prison term for Escoto writing to the court, “Escoto’s criminality is a result of his decisions, his attitudes toward criminal activity, and his disrespect for other individual members of society who may be victimized by such behavior. Escoto committed the instant offenses in association with members of the Aryan Family and Omerta prison gangs, and while he denies belonging to either gang, he appears to share their ideology of white supremacy and racial animus.”
Chief Judge Estudillo ordered Escoto to be on five years of federal supervised release following his prison term.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
This investigation was led by the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with critical investigative teamwork from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Washington State Department of Corrections and significant local assistance from the Tacoma Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, and the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, led by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. Throughout this investigation the following agencies assisted the primary investigators: Washington State Patrol, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Lakewood Police Department, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
