United States Drug Enforcement Administration

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LUIS CIURO, 37, of East Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 180 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for trafficking narcotics.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 15, 2019, Manchester Police received a call reporting that a woman was yelling and displaying a gun outside of an apartment building on John Olds Drive in Manchester.  Law enforcement had previously received information that an individual was operating a fentanyl mill in an apartment within the same building.

Responding officers conducted surveillance of the building and saw Ciuro exit the building and place a black bag into the trunk of a car.  After Ciuro and another individual entered the car and it drove away, officers conducted a traffic stop.  An officer opened the trunk of car and retrieved the bag that Ciuro had carried from the building.  The bag contained one shoebox that contained approximately $70,000 in cash, and a second shoebox that contained two loaded handguns, both of which had been reported stolen.  After Ciuro admitted to law enforcement that used an apartment on John Olds Drive to store and process narcotics, a search of the apartment revealed approximately 687 grams of fentanyl, .69 grams of PCP, four grams of psilocybin mushrooms, and various drug-packaging materials.

On November 20, 2020, Ciuro pleaded guilty today to one count of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

The penalties in this case were enhanced based on Ciuro’s criminal history, which includes a prior federal conviction for conspiring to distribute crack cocaine.  On January 4, 2008, Ciuro was sentenced in New Haven federal court to 84 months of imprisonment for that offense.

This investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force and the Manchester Police Department.  The Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Enfield, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor Locks and Willimantic Police Departments.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel J. Gentile.