United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Alejo Polanco was sentenced today to 27 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release by United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. In August 2013, following a two-week trial, Polanco and co-defendant Emilino Vasquez were convicted...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Jimmy Cournoyer, the leader of a massive international drug trafficking enterprise with ties to La Cosa Nostra, the Hells Angels, and the notorious Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, was sentenced earlier today to 27 years in prison by the Hon. Raymond J. Dearie. Cournoyer previously pleaded guilty to...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Earlier today, Jair Estupinan-Montano was arraigned at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, on charges relating to international narcotics trafficking. Estupinan- Montano was arrested in Panama on October 14, 2013, on a provisional arrest warrant issued from the Eastern District of New York. The arraignment was...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Earlier today at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, John Venizelos, also known as “John V,” “Big Man,” and “John from Staten Island,” an alleged associate of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced to 11 years in prison to be followed...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick and DEA Resident Agent in Charge, Ed Duffy announced today the conclusion of a major heroin investigation. The investigation was conducted by the DEA High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area of Central New (HIDTA). HIDTA Force members include the DEA, the...

BALTIMORE - U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Richard Anthony Wilford, age 41, of Baltimore and Elkton, to 340 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Judge Hollander enhanced Wilford’s sentence upon determining that he is a career offender based on...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - James Quinn, 73, of Surrey, United Kingdom, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury for his alleged involvement in the illegal shipments of non-FDA approved prescription drugs to co-conspirators in the United States. Quinn, along with two companies in the United Kingdom and Switzerland that he...

RICHMOND, Va. - Carlos A. Cooke, age 38, of High Point, North Carolina, Virginia, was sentenced to 24 years in prison on his guilty plea to conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. Special Agent in Charge Karl C. Colder of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington Field Division...

NEW YORK - Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, George Venizelos, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of (FBI), James J. Hunt, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Jorge Melendez, 42, of Buffalo, N.Y., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture more than 100 marijuana plants. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum of 40, a fine of $5,000,000 or...