Police: Pair taped talking deadly drug
Two alleged drug traffickers, in a chilling moment of deadly candor, were taped talking about how the fentanyl they were pushing is a killer — and laughed about it — according to feds who broke up a major narcotics ring in an extensive raid yesterday that netted 30 suspects.
The sophisticated drug operation ran a delivery service shuttling large amounts of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine throughout the Merrimack Valley and across state lines into New Hampshire and Maine, authorities said — all while fully aware of its fatal potential.
“Listen, that’s killing people, I already told you,” Jose Rosado Sanchez, 46, said about fentanyl in an intercepted conversation on May 5, according to federal court papers.
“A friend of mine told that the blue one is good, but it kills a lot of people,” Ramon Gonzalez Nival, 40, chuckled, according to the court papers.
Both men were among the 30 people federally indicted on drug trafficking, gun and immigration offenses.
Authorities said many defendants were suspected of using aliases and their identities were being processed through fingerprints and databases. At least 10 defendants were in the country illegally, and five of those had been deported previously, officials said.
Acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb said about 250 local, state and federal cops fanned out in Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley and arrested 27 suspects as of yesterday morning in “one of the largest fentanyl trafficking organizations we’ve ever seen in Massachusetts.” In addition to the arrests, authorities said they seized 2 kilograms of fentanyl.
The prime target was Juan Anibal Patrone, 26, who feds say led the drug network.
“He took orders from customers who texted and called and then he dispatched workers who worked in shifts,” Weinreb said.
“The couriers delivered the drugs and collected the money, often using vehicles outfitted with secret compartments. ... Some couriers were assigned to stationary posts. Others were assigned to walking routes where they met customers to deliver the drugs,” the prosecutor said.
Alleged kingpin Patrone, a Lawrence resident and dual citizen of the Dominican Republic and Italy, was said to be legally in the country but officials were awaiting a possible adjustment of his legal status, said Matthew Etre, special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations.
Michael J. Ferguson, special agent in charge with the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England, noted the destructive power of fentanyl.
“If anything can be likened to a weapon of mass destruction in what it does to a community, it’s fentanyl,” Ferguson said. “A synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine, 50 times more potent than heroin. It can kill you if you inject it in your arm, breathe it in the air, or touch it with your skin.”
Patrone was overheard over a wiretap bragging about his wealth in the Dominican Republic, the feds said.
“I am doing a couple houses (on land I bought by Matadero out by the woods), and will do one in my grandmother’s land,” he reportedly said. “I am out of here. I am leaving. ... I will never deal with drugs again in my life.”