More than a year after a jury found him guilty of trafficking thousands of pounds of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in central Ohio and using violence to control the local drug trade as part of the “Third World Mob” gang, a Columbus man has learned his fate when he appeared in federal court.
Klegewerges Abate, 36, was sentenced to almost 26 years in prison Sept. 12 in U.S. District Court in Columbus, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
A jury convicted Abate in August 2024 for conspiring to traffic at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, firearms offenses and wire fraud for illegally obtaining COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.
Federal prosecutors said that Abate, who also went by the names “Bells,” “Robell” and “Sosa,” was a member of the Third World Mob gang and had worked with other members of the gang to truck in thousands of pounds of drugs into central Ohio from states like California and Georgia since 2015.
The gang members would rent U-Haul trucks and rental cars to transport the drugs and used rental houses as stash houses for both drugs and cash made from drug trafficking, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors noted one incident in August 2019 when Abate and other gang members had a suitcase holding around $940,000 in cash at a house in the 1300 block of Phlox Avenue in the Village at Jefferson Run homes off North Waggoner Road in Jefferson Township.
In a November 2022 incident, police searched a home on Chapel Stone Road, off North Waggoner Road, on Columbus’ Far East Side, and found Abate and two other co-conspirators with more than 700 kilograms of marijuana and three firearms, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Abate and other members of the Third World Mob gang used violence and threats of violence to “maintain control over their drug trafficking.” Jurors saw surveillance video showing Abate shooting a man at a Columbus restaurant and heard testimony about several other shootings, pistol whipping and other acts of violence and intimidation committed by Abate.
The jury also convicted Abate of fraudulenty claiming federal COVID-19 pandemic funds. According to prosecutors, Abate claimed that he was a self-employed landscaper while he was trafficking drugs.
Abate is among seven members of the Third World Mob gang who have been charged in federal court since 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Abubakarr Savage, 36, was convicted at trial with Abate and sentenced in July to more than 15 years in prison.
Menelik Solomon, 31, pleaded guilty in November 2023 and was also sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: ‘Third World Mob’ gang member sentenced to more than 25 years in federal prison
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
