Two Men Convicted Of New York To Boston Crack Cocaine Conspiracy
CONCORD, N.H. - John J. Arvanitis, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and John P. Kacavas, United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire announced that Manuel Trinidad-Acosta, 29, of New York City, and Ed Cogswell, 47, of
Bangor, Maine, were convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Maine at the conclusion of a jury trial of conspiring to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base in the Bangor, Maine, area. The jury also found Trinidad-Acosta guilty of possessing a firearm, a Ruger P 95 9mm handgun, in furtherance of the drug trafficking conspiracy.
A grand jury for the District of Maine returned an indictment on January 12, 2012 charging New York City residents Dawlin Cabrera, Jowenky Nunez, Alfarabick Mally, also known as Jacob Garcia, Abraham Lluberes, and Manuel Trinidad Acosta, and Bangor residents Ed Cogswell and Pauline Rossignol with conspiring to distribute and to possess to distribute more than 28 grams of crack cocaine. Cabrera, Nunez, Mally, Lluberes and Rossignol resolved their charges through guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing.
Bangor residents Pari Proffitt, Christopher Mullins and Kizzy Fader were also charged with participating in the conspiracy. Fader was convicted after a four day trial in May 2012 and Mullins was convicted in October after a three day trial.
The charges arose from investigations conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in 2010 and 2011. The drug organization’s operations were shut down after law enforcement executed search warrants for several residences located in Bangor on November 2, 3, and 4, 2011, that led to the seizure of a number of firearms and 368 grams of crack cocaine.
