Bikers get long sentences
for drug convictions

The purported leader of a violent drug-dealing biker gang that operated on both sides of the Delaware River was sentenced to 36 years in federal prison last week.
John "Junior" Napoli, 35, of Levittown, Bucks County, joins fellow Breed Motorcycle Club board member and Northeast resident William "Tattoo Billy" Johnson, 31, behind bars. On April 11, Johnson, of the 3600 block of Morrell Ave., was ordered to spend 30 years in a federal lock-up for his role in the gang’s multimillion-dollar crystal methamphetamine distribution ring notorious for its use of intimidation and violence.
U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III also ordered both men to serve five years of supervised release following their prison terms. In the federal court system, there is no provision for early parole. Each defendant faced a possible life sentence.
According to a July 2007 grand jury indictment, members of the Bristol, Bucks County-based Breed and their associates dealt more than $11 million worth of the stimulant drug in Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey between spring 2005 and summer 2006.
Napoli was identified as the president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the motorcycle club, and Johnson was named as an "enforcer" and executive board member. Johnson, who held a second residence on the 4600 block of Bergen St., obtained much of the gang’s meth from a non-club source, Robert Traverse, of the 8600 block of Jackson St.
Traverse, 39, pleaded guilty last month in Bucks County to 47 state charges, including seven drug distribution counts, two conspiracy counts, one count of engaging in a corrupt organization and 37 counts of criminal use of a communications facility. Common Pleas Court Judge Albert J. Cepparulo sentenced him to 10 to 15 years in state prison.
Several other Breed members testified against Napoli, Johnson and a third defendant, Thomas "Fuzzy" Heilman of Bristol, at their two-week federal trial last October.
The cooperating witnesses described a series of violent assaults orchestrated by the gang’s leaders to protect and facilitate their meth distribution ring. The beatings sometimes targeted other members.
Heilman, 54, was sentenced in January to 19 years, six months, in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
The grand jury indictment followed a series of raids by federal, state and local authorities in July 2006 on the Breed’s clubhouse, Johnson’s homes and other locations.
Authorities rounded up more than a dozen suspected participants in the drug organization, along with two dozen firearms ranging from handguns to a machine gun, ammunition, explosives, dozens of pounds of meth and stolen motorcycles. ••