NEW YORK – Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a Public Safety Alert warning Americans of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. DEA’s Public Safety Alert, the first in six years, seeks to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide...

SYRACUSE, NY – Charles Scott, 61, of Syracuse pled guilty yesterday to distributing cocaine and heroin, possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl, and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon, and Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement...

NEW YORK CITY – Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Dermot Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department , and Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, announced that Jose Luis...

TAMPA, Fla. – Six individuals who are part of the Fernando Pineda-Jimenez Transnational Criminal Organization have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a conspiracy to distribute cocaine using vessels subject to the jurisdiction of the United States (U.S.). Fernando Pineda-Jimenez, a/k/a “Padrino,” 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy...

BROOKLYN, NY - Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Alvaro Vivero Rendon was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment by United States District Judge Edward R. Korman for conspiracy to internationally distribute cocaine. As part of the sentence, the Court entered a forfeiture money judgment of $20 million. Vivero pleaded...

MIAMI – Clarence G. Kelley, III, a/k/a “Kemp,” 42, of Lake Worth, Florida, was sentenced by a federal district judge in West Palm Beach to a mandatory term of five years in prison for possessing with the intent to distribute more than a kilogram of cocaine. In March 2021, law...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Results of the first 60-days of the federal Violence Prevention and Elimination Response (VIPER) Initiative were announced today. VIPER sought to address the dramatic increase in gun violence in the City of Buffalo during the first half of 2021. The initial 60-day period of VIPER covered the...

BROOKLYN, NY - Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Gilberto Melgarejo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute illegal drugs over the “dark web.” Co-defendant Brooke Gray pleaded guilty to the same charge on August 10, 2021. Melgarejo and Gray participated in dozens of...

NEW YORK – Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced today the arrests of 12 individuals for their roles in a drug trafficking operation that transported cocaine from Puerto Rico to Buffalo and other...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, New York Division announced Robert Jones, 48, of Lockport, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo to possessing with intent to distribute cocaine. The charge carries carry...