United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BOSTON, MA. - A Florida man was sentenced yesterday in federal court for his top-level role in a massive oxycodone distribution conspiracy that spanned from Southern Florida to Massachusetts and distributed in excess of 100,000 oxycodone pills in the Fall River area.

Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz announced that Justin Green, 29, of Sunrise, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole to 17.5 years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine. In January, Green was convicted by a jury of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance.

Green was the head of an oxycodone supply chain that distributed in excess of 100,000 oxycodone pills in the Fall River area. Green was the Florida-based source of supply for the pills and sold 30-mg and 80-mg oxycodone pills that were transported to Massachusetts and supplied to other co-defendants for distribution to addicts in the Fall River area.

During the investigation, the DEA received authorization for wiretaps on three cell phones used by members of the conspiracy. Based on intercepted calls, in early May 2009, agents learned that a co-conspirator had arranged to carry several hundred thousand dollars in cash to Florida to purchase 30,000 30-mg oxycodone pills and 2,500 80-mg oxycodone pills from Green. On May 7, 2009, DEA agents arrested Green at a Fort Lauderdale hotel when he arrived to distribute the pills. Agents seized $396,000 cash that was intended as payment for Green in exchange for the pills.

Green supplied tens of thousands of oxycodone pills on each of approximately 12 occasions, and all of these pills were transported to Massachusetts for distribution in the Fall River area. Green distributed $70,000 to $80,000 worth of pills during each transaction in the early part of the conspiracy. The transactions grew in size over time. Green distributed over $150,000 worth of pills in at least two transactions, and the final transaction involved $396,000, which was seized at the time of Green's arrest.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda M. Ricci of Ortiz’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.