Feds: Man sentenced for part in New Haven drug ring

A 59-year-old man was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison Tuesday for his role in a New Haven area drug ring, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut said.

Lorenzo Morales-Arambula pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and five kilograms or more of cocaine on Jan. 28.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in a video appearance in federal court.

A Mexican citizen, Morales-Arambula has been in custody since Jan. 14, 2018, a news release said.

A joint DEA, FBI and New Haven police investigation found Morales-Arambula “agreed to supply” the drug ring operated by Duane Filyaw, Salvatore Orsini and others with “kilogram quantities of cocaine and heroin,” the release said.

The group would then “distribute the drugs to other suppliers and streetlevel dealers in and around New Haven.”

Morales-Arambula planned to receive the drugs from “sources in Mexico and northern California,” the release said.

“However, in January 2018, before the narcotics transactions with Filyaw could be completed, Morales-Arambula was detained in Michigan and charged in federal court with unlawful reentry of a removed alien,” it said.

Morales-Arambula has previously been convicted on firearm, drug and immigration charges.

His criminal history also includes “causing a riot a federal correctional facility in Texas in 2008,” the release said.

He had been deported to Mexico twice and has reentered the U.S. without authorization both times, according to the U.S. At

torney’s Office.

He was sentenced to a combined 58 months in prison in 2018 for unlawful re-entry into the United

States and for violating the terms of his supervised release, authorities said.

Filyaw, a New Haven resident, and Orsini, a West Haven resident, have both been convicted and are awaiting sentencing, the release said.