United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEW ORLEANS - On August 17 a federal jury convicted Dan Pizzaro, 48 and a resident of California, for his role in conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and heroin in the New Orleans area, announced DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen G. Azzam, and Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans. Following a four...

TUCSON, Ariz. - The DEA announced today the sentencing of Gustavo Nunez to 38.25 years in prison for performing illegal cosmetic surgeries on seven victims, three of whom were hospitalized, one with life-threatening injuries. In April 2017, Nunez pleaded guilty to 28 felony charges after performing illegal liposuction procedures. “Gustavo...

SHREVEPORT, La. - Today, a federal jury found a Texas man guilty of conspiring to transport methamphetamine and cocaine, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Brad L. Byerley and Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook. Erasmo Aviles Jr., 35, of Spring, Texas, was found guilty of one count...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Twenty-six suspected drug traffickers with ties to East Alabama were arrested in a joint federal, state, and local narcotics investigation, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and A. Clark Morris, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. Thirteen suspects were...

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. - Today, the simultaneous unsealing of 25 federal indictments charging 43 defendants in a major operation aimed at curbing drug trafficking and gun violence in West Memphis and Crittenden County. The indictments were returned by a federal grand jury on July 6, 2017 and July 11, 2017...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Today three indictments charging 24 defendants in schemes intended to divert pharmaceutical pills to the streets were unsealed, announced Stephen G. Azzam, Special Agent-in-Charge of DEA’s New Orleans Field Division which oversees DEA’s Little Rock District Office, and Patrick C. Harris, Acting United States Attorney for...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A federal judge today sentenced a Birmingham, Alabama man to 20 years in prison for distributing fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid painkiller, that caused the death of a 20-year-old Pelham woman, announced DEA Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Bret Hamilton and Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey. A U.S...

MOBILE, Ala. - Karen Hill - the former Insys Therapeutics Regional Manager for the southeastern United States - has pled guilty to conspiring to pay illegal kickbacks to doctors in exchange for their prescribing the instant-release fentanyl drug Subsys, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent-in-(ASAC) Bret Hamilton and Acting...

MOBILE, Ala. - Elyric Nathaniel Singleton, III was sentenced today by a Senior United States District Judge to 97 months in federal prison for his role in nine pharmacy burglaries, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and Acting United States Attorney Steve Butler of the...

NEW ORLEANS - The number of accidental drug-related overdose deaths in the City of New Orleans in 2016 exceeded the number of murders for the first time in the city’s history, according to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office. Drug-related deaths in Orleans Parish totaled 211 in 2016, more than double...