Tyrone Weatherall lived lavishly, being the owner of several houses and land lots in different Texas locales, as well as a BMW, exotic animals and horses.

That is all being forfeited now as Weatherall and other members of the West Side Gator Boys street gang that he led until recently in Dallas pled guilty in U.S. District Court on August 20 in a drug possession conspiracy to distribute cocaine base. Weatherall faces a potential life sentence in prison and a $4 million fine.

Weatherall and his gang members were under an intensive and long-term investigation coordinated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ("ATF") and the Dallas Police Department's Gang Unit. Agents in that investigation state that gang members possessed large amounts of weapons, crack cocaine and marijuana and operated out of as many as 20 drug houses in one neighborhood alone.

The period of investigation ran from January 2007 through March 2010, a time during which authorities state Weatherall and his co-defendants conspired to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine base.

The property acquired by Weatherall from drug proceeds included a West Dallas ranch, four houses in Dallas, an additional home in Grand Prairie, and four vacant lots in Dallas.

Weatherall has been in custody since his March arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November.

Related Resource: www.dallasobserver.com "Dallas Gang Leader, Drug Dealer and Apparent Exotic Animal Lover Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy" August 20, 2010