Fentanyl, crack ring busted

A Boston-based drug trafficking ring that’s accused of flooding New Hampshire with fentanyl and crack cocaine has been busted by the feds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has announced.

More than 20 suspects have been charged in connection with an organized drug trafficking ring operating out of Boston and Manchester, N.H.

Those 22 defendants includes the alleged Dorchester ringleader Juan Ramon Soto Baez, aka “Ricky,” aka “Nicolas Lopez Rosado.” The 53-year-old man is in custody, along with 11 of the defendants on conspiracy to distribute controlled substance charges.

The drug trafficking ring is accused of supplying the Manchester-area with fentanyl and crack cocaine for at least the past four years. These individuals allegedly trafficked large quantities of fentanyl and crack cocaine from Massachusetts to New Hampshire.

“This operation has dealt a crippling blow to a Boston-based drug trafficking organization led by Juan Ramon Soto Baez that is accused of flooding the streets in and around Manchester with deadly fentanyl and crack cocaine, profiting from the suffering of others,” FBI Boston said in a statement.

“We hope today’s collaborative effort will help the good, law-abiding citizens of Manchester feel a bit safer,” FBI Boston later added.

Law enforcement officials have seized about 1.6 kilograms of suspected cocaine, 150 grams of suspected cocaine base, 250 grams of suspected fentanyl, 100 bags of suspected controlled substances packaged for sale, $26,000 in cash, and four firearms.

The suspects are accused of a sophisticated drug trafficking operation, which included using dispatch phone numbers that customers would call to order drugs. Drug runners would drive vehicles to meet customers at predetermined locations to sell them drugs, often inside the runners’ vehicles.

Of the 22 defendants, 10 live in the Boston-area. The other defendants live in the Manchester-area, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

“The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Manchester Police Department led the investigation,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Marshal Service, the New Hampshire State Police, the Nashua Police Department, the Boston Police Department, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, Probation & Parole.”

This effort was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation.