United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Sixteen of the defendants indicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges as part of Operation Vanilla Gorilla have pled guilty in federal court, including the lead defendant in the gang. Operation Vanilla Gorilla targeted the notorious Ghost Face Gangsters, a violent criminal street gang largely operated from...

CONCORD, N.H. – Brian D. Boyle, special agent in charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's New England Division, and U.S. Attorney Scott W. Murray announced that Joshua Smith, 31, of Haverhill, Mass., was sentenced to 180 months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute over 400...

BUFFALO, N.Y. –U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr., and DEA New York Division Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan announced that Dontrell Wise, 32, of Buffalo, N.Y., who was convicted following a federal jury trial of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, butyryl fentanyl, fentanyl, cocaine and crack...

CONCORD, N.H. – DEA New England Division Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle and United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced that John F. Kelekci, 35, of Pittsfield, N.H., was sentenced in federal court to serve 130 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to...

DENVER – Jose Tapia-Rubio, age 60, of Aurora, Colorado, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Raymond P. Moore to serve 96 months (8 years) in federal prison followed by five years on supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Derek Damuth, 25, of Lowville, N.Y., was charged today by a federal grand jury with possessing with the intent to distribute in excess of 40 grams of a mixture of fentanyl and heroin, along with possessing additional amounts of cocaine and marijuana, announced DEA New York Division...

BOSTON – A Harwich man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for fentanyl conspiracy. Dean Viprino, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to eight years in prison and five years of supervised release. In December 2017, Viprino pleaded guilty to one count of...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr., and DEA New York Division Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan announced that Maximillian Sams, 31, of Elmira, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 100 grams or more of a fentanyl analogue, was...

NEWARK, NJ - Two men facing charges based on the seizure of more than 20 kilograms of fentanyl made their initial court appearances in Newark federal court today, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenit, DEA New York Division Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill...

PHOENIX – Doug Coleman, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Arizona, announces the arrest of six subjects, including an admitted MS-13 gang member, and seizure of drugs and multiple weapons after a joint task force investigation with the Scottsdale Police Department. Agents and detectives initiated the...