Authorities Friday accused a Pittsburgh pawn shop owner of running a retail theft and gun-trafficking ring that bought and resold stolen items including iPhones, electronics and lawnmowers.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged Osman Musa and six other people identified as members of a group dubbed the “Six Figure Boys” following a statewide investigating grand jury probe.
Police recovered at least eight guns believed to be obtained through straw purchases or illegal transfers and more than $120,000 cash from Muya, a criminal complaint said.
They also seized thousands of dollars of new items, such as Apple products, that they suspect were stolen.
Investigators said members of the ring pulled off heists at stores that had light security or were lax with going after shoplifters.
Police said they found dozens of Pennsylvania photo identification cards and Electronic Benefit Transfer cards — debit cards that store benefits such as food stamps for low-income people — held together with rubber bands.
Walmart security officials later told authorities that more than 100 of the debit cards were used on accounts connect to Muya, the complaint said.
Investigators said local police departments played a role in helping to dismantle what they described as an “elaborate illegal trafficking network.”
Muya, 46, of Pittsburgh’s California-Kirkbride neighborhood, used his North Side pawn shop to fence goods stolen from suburban outlet stores, frequently on holidays when the businesses were closed, according to a criminal complaint.
The attorney general’s office charged Muya with felony counts of operating corrupt organizations, organized retail theft, conspiracy and related offenses.
Also charged were: Rami Hamdan-Toto, Alhassane Barry, Viane Hakizimam, Trey Da’Quan Carlock Bell, Mukamba Adelin and Rimon Toto.
Each man faces conspiracy counts and other charges for their alleged roles in the operation.
Piecing it together
Investigators said they became aware of the ring around Independence Day 2021, when five men stole a shopping cart full of items from a Walmart in Cranberry, the complaint said.
A year later, in July 2022, a man involved with the crime ring walked out of a Home Depot pushing a shopping cart with about $700 of merchandise he stole, according to Ross police. A second man served as the getaway driver.
Six months after that, the ring stole up to $20,000 worth of Apple products from a Walmart in North Versailles, the complaint said.
North Versailles police later charged Adelin in the burglary, the complaint said. Investigators identified him as one of the ring’s members.
Adelin said Muya, the ring’s “boss,” told him to steal the merchandise and bring it to his pawn shop, according to investigators.
Muya paid about $2,000 for the goods, the complaint said. He is accused of buying and reselling sold several stolen items.
In February 2023, one of the ring’s members sent Muya screenshots of riding lawnmowers for sale at Lowe’s, according to the complaint.
“Would you be interested in this things boss?” he asked, the complaint said.
“I always pay you half of the new price,” Muya wrote back, the complaint said. “They’re not gonna sell until the weather gets nice.”
Authorities said Muya moved money through several First Commonwealth Bank accounts he maintained, as well as through banking apps like CashApp, Zelle and Sendwave.
The group communicated online — and sometimes through social media — with the hashtag #6fb, investigators said. One of the members even posted photographs of him wearing the code on a T-shirt, according to the complaint.
Muya, Hamdan-Toto and Barry were taken to the Allegheny County Jail and arraigned Friday, authorities said.
A district judge deemed all three a “threat to the community” and denied them bail.
Bell and Hakizimam are not in custody, the attorney general’s office said.