Member Of Darrin Southall Drug Organization Sentenced In Federal Court

MOBILE, AL –A Newnan, Georgia, man involved in Darrin Southall’s drug trafficking organization was sentenced in federal court on February 27, 2025. Edward Ray Antoine, Jr, 42, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine in April of 2024.  

According to court documents, Antoine, also known as “Easy,” was one of Southall’s associates who had connections with drug suppliers in Texas. During the investigation, telephone calls between Antoine and Southall were intercepted by federal investigators. Antoine and Southall used coded language to attempt to disguise the criminal nature of their calls and conceal their drug trafficking activities from detection. Antoine and Southall shared a courier who transported multi-kilogram cocaine shipments and hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug cash between Southall and the suppliers in Texas.  The courier used a pickup truck registered to Antoine’s wife that was equipped with an exterior fuel tank with a false bottom. The cocaine and the drug money were concealed in the compartment during the trips. Calls between Antoine and Southall initially related to the courier’s whereabouts and availability for trips until January of 2022. As a result of the federal investigation, the courier’s truck was stopped and $322,000 in cash was seized from the compartment. Numerous calls between Antoine and Southall were intercepted in which they discussed the courier’s stop and arrest status, potential ways to recover the seized cash, and what they would disclose to the drug suppliers in Texas who were awaiting the delivery of the drug money. Federal and state investigators arrested Southall and numerous members of his organization during 2021 and 2022. Approximately 30 members of Southall’s organization have been prosecuted in federal court to date.

United States District Court Judge Kristi K. Dubose imposed a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment in Antoine’s case and ordered that the sentences run concurrently. The judge further ordered that Antoine would also serve 5years on supervised release following his release from imprisonment. As conditions of his supervised release, Antoine will also undergo testing and treatment for drug and/or alcohol abuse, and he will be subject to a search of his person and premises upon reasonable suspicion. The judge also ordered that Antoine pay $200 in special assessments.  

The case was investigated by the Mobile Police Department, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Saraland Police Department, the St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria Bedwell prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

The investigation was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)  operation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organization 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.