Infamous Hookah Bar Front For Drug, Money Laundering Ring: MNPD

NASHVILLE, TN -- An Inglewood hookah bar that gained infamy as the site of two deadly shootings in 2017 was at the center of a drug-dealing and money-laundering ring, according to a massive indictment handed down this week.

The Davidson County grand jury indicted five people on more than 200 charges, alleging that the now-shuttered Cloud IX hookah bar was used to launder money from cocaine sales and was in fact funded by the illicit cash.

The bar's owner, Erica Fenton, 30, is charged with 217 counts of money laundering and was arrested Wednesday. Her indictment alleges she used laundered money from drugs sold by Sylvester Lee Mosley, 32, to fund Cloud IX between December 2015 and September 2017.

Mosley was also arrested Wednesday, charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, one count of conspiracy of money laundering and 218 counts of money laundering. Jose Irene Cartroleon, Ernesto Mancilla and Juan Carlos Vento, a.k.a. John C. Riaz, were also named in the indictment.

Metro Police responded to dozens of calls at the hookah bar located at the corner of Stratford Avenue and Gallatin Road in 2017, including two fatal shootings. In May, a man died after being shot in the head in a parking lot shootout there.

In December, Jason McClain, a 30-year-old father of three, was shot and killed in a shootout outside Cloud IX.

Neighbors and area councilmembers sought ways to have the club shut down as a public nuisance, but Fenton instead lost her club by failing to pay her rent. Cloud IX's landlords evicted the business after a January court hearing. Fenton owed more than $175,000 in back rent.

Photos via Metro Nashville Police