BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. and DEA New York Division Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan today announced that Marcus Adside, 30, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and butyryl fentanyl, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $1,000,000 fine. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Astorga, who is handling the case, stated that in the early morning hours of Aug. 5, 2016, Buffalo Police officers conducting patrol encountered the defendant on 19th Street near Hampshire Street. As officers drove past, Adside yelled, “I’m not doing nothing!” The defendant then grabbed onto a large bulge in his right front pants pocket and took off running into an alley between two houses on Hampshire Street near 19th Street. 

Officers began a foot pursuit, and during the chase, Adside threw a clear baggie containing controlled substances into a backyard area off the alley and a sock containing a loaded firearm over a fence in the same alley. He was apprehended shortly after.

Subsequently, officers recovered a 9mm ammunition magazine containing eight rounds, a sock containing a handgun, a clear plastic baggie containing eight loose glassine envelopes with powder, and one plastic bag holding seven smaller plastic bags containing a total of 70 glassine envelopes with powder. Testing determined that the bags contained butyryl fentanyl and cocaine. 

The plea is the result of an investigation by the DEA Buffalo Resident Office and the Buffalo Police Department.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 14, 2019, at 12:30 p.m. before Judge Arcara.