Drug ring member pleads guilty
Anthony Luizzi faces up to 20 years in prison
ALBANY — Ten months after a gunman wounded two Saratoga County sheriff’s deputies before the officers fatally shot him, one of his associates in a Capital Region-wide drug ring pleaded to multiple charges Monday in U.S. District Court.
Anthony Luizzi faces 171⁄2 to more than 20 years in federal prison, under sentencing guidelines, following his appearance before U.S. District Judge Anne Nardacci. With a large crowd of supporters in attendance, Luizzi admitted he peddled counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl, a deadly opioid, and sold methamphetamine and cocaine. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell and possess with intent to sell drugs, possession with intent to sell drugs, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
Luizzi, 24, was a friend of the late Anthony Zaremski, 23, who shot two sheriff ’s deputies last May 23 as they executed a search warrant on his residence on Foxwood Drive in the Foxrun Apartments in Clifton Park. The officers returned fire, killing Zaremski.
That same day, Luizzi and a woman were in Luizzi’s apartment in Candlelight Court in the Twin Lakes complex in Halfmoon when they were visited by members of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force. Using a search warrant, investigators discovered shopping bags containing thousands of fentanyl pills; $2,616 in drug proceeds and five guns, which included a .40-caliber Glock pistol loaded with a high-capacity magazine in arm’s reach of Luizzi’s bed.
Investigators also seized a .22-caliber rifle, a .32-caliber revolver and two 12gauge shotguns — one under his bed, another by a screen door with defaced serial numbers. Officers also went to a location on Western Avenue in Guilderland where they found a safe containing 403 grams of fentanyl pills, 7,237 grams of methamphetamine, 737 grams of cocaine and 34 guns, according to a plea agreement outlined by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Wentworth
Ping on Monday.
Luizzi admitted he was personally accountable for between 30,000 and 90,000 kilograms of converted drug weight, which included 11.4 kilograms of fentanyl, more than 7.2 grams of methamphetamine and more than 700 grams of cocaine. He admitted he kept the firearms to protect the drugs, drug proceeds and the guns.
“Is that what you did and what occurred in this case?” the judge asked Luizzi.
“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, wearing an orange jail outfit beside his court-appointed attorney, Danielle Neroni.
Luizzi’s co-defendants include Jabree Jones, 31, known as “Breezy,” who was convicted of racketeering conspiracy in 2012 as a member of the Schenectady-based Uptown/ Gunners gang and was charged with violating his supervised release; and Brandon Bartley, 26, who is charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Their cases are pending.
Luizzi’s sentencing is tentatively scheduled for July 16.
The case involved the DEA, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Saratoga County sheriff ’s office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General.