Three Pennsylvania men charged with drug trafficking and related offenses kept an alligator to protect their merchandise, according to the Chester County district attorney.The men, who were sent to Chester County Prison, were 40-year-old Tyrone Jackson, of Columbia, 35-year-old Aki Gathright, of Philadelphia, and 31-year-old Irvin "Gotti" Hawkins, of South Coatesville. Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said police searched a home on Feb. 8 and found heroin, suspected fentanyl, crack cocaine and marijuana. Police also found material for packaging and selling drugs, as well as more than $5,000 cash, Hogan said.Police found the 3-foot-long American alligator in the kitchen."Quite frankly, as far as we can tell with these drug dealers, the alligator may have been the brains of the operation," Hogan said.The alligator was taken to the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, Delaware, where it will spend the summer as an educational animal before being taken to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park in Florida.While the gator is currently unnamed, police were calling it "El Chompo," in honor of the recent U.S. conviction of the Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Three Pennsylvania men charged with drug trafficking and related offenses kept an alligator to protect their merchandise, according to the Chester County district attorney.


The men, who were sent to Chester County Prison, were 40-year-old Tyrone Jackson, of Columbia, 35-year-old Aki Gathright, of Philadelphia, and 31-year-old Irvin "Gotti" Hawkins, of South Coatesville.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said police searched a home on Feb. 8 and found heroin, suspected fentanyl, crack cocaine and marijuana. Police also found material for packaging and selling drugs, as well as more than $5,000 cash, Hogan said.

Police found the 3-foot-long American alligator in the kitchen.

"Quite frankly, as far as we can tell with these drug dealers, the alligator may have been the brains of the operation," Hogan said.

The alligator was taken to the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, Delaware, where it will spend the summer as an educational animal before being taken to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park in Florida.

While the gator is currently unnamed, police were calling it "El Chompo," in honor of the recent U.S. conviction of the Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.