United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Division and U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that José Ruben Gil, 53, of Bell Gardens, California was sentenced to serve 144 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, following Gil’s conviction for operating a continuing criminal enterprise and his role in a money laundering conspiracy.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan Tokash and Wei Xiang, who handled the case, stated that between June 2013 and September 2015, the defendant conspired with others to sell cocaine in the Western District of New York. The defendant formed a relationship with co-defendant Darryl Williams, who agreed to distribute large amounts of drugs for Gil in Western New York and other cities. Gil, who was based out of California, requested that Darryl Williams and co-defendant Troy Gillon meet with him in California on at least two occasions to arrange for the set-up and delivery of illegal narcotics to Buffalo and other cities. The defendant began sending large shipments of cocaine via surface shipment on tractor-trailers, the proceeds of which were sent back to Gil via surface transportation.

On June 23, 2013, the California Highway Patrol stopped a tractor-trailer in Barstow, California, which resulted in the seizure of approximately $420,000 in U.S. currency. The cash seized from the tractor­-trailer was money collected from the sale of heroin and cocaine in the Buffalo area that Darryl Williams was sending to Gil.

Following Gil’s arrest in California on Jan. 13, 2014, his associate, Herman Aguirre, continued the cross-continent drug trafficking operation. After Gil's arrest, the money obtained from drugs sales in Buffalo and other East Coast cities was brought to Bank of America locations in Western New York and deposited into accounts held by three California-based corporations, including Triton Foods, Kamara Investments, and Fresh Choice Produce. One co-conspirator alone was responsible for depositing into those accounts approximately $19,000,000 in cash derived from drug trafficking. Once the money was deposited, the principals of the three California corporations engaged in further financial transactions for the purpose of withdrawing or otherwise debiting the funds from the bank accounts to give to Gil and/or Herman Aguirre to pay for the heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. The transactions were designed to avoid a transaction reporting requirement under Federal law and were made with knowledge that the money involved in the financial transactions represented the proceeds of narcotics trafficking.

A total of 17 defendants were charged and convicted in this case.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the DEA, Buffalo Resident Office; Homeland Security Investigations; and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.

                                                                     # # #