Alleged ‘kingpin’ of city drug ring sentenced
PROVIDENCE – A Woonsocket man prosecutors describe as “a kingpin” of a three-state drug-trafficking business was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Claudio Valdez, 46, and his brothers, Hector Valdez, 45, also of Woonsocket, and Juan Valdez, 51, of Milton, Mass., had previously pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to arranging multiple shipments of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine from Mexico to stash houses in Cranston and Woonsocket.
The two men admitted to overseeing the distribution of the drugs to mid-level dealers in the areas of Greater Providence, Greater Boston and Hartford, Conn., prosecutors say.
The three men, Dominican nationals, re-entered the country illegally after having been previously convicted of felony drug crimes and deported, federal prosecutors said. Immigration detainers have been lodged against all three, which means they’ll be tracked for deportation hearings upon the termination of their prison sentences.
During yesterday’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. sentenced Claudio Valdez to 240 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
The government’s plea agreement with Valdez stipulates that both federal
prosecutors and defense lawyers recommended the approved sentence, through sentencing guidelines for the offenses were substantially higher – 324-405 months.
The Valdez brothers were captured in a federal probe handled by a special task force dubbed “Operation Triple Play,” according to prosecutors. In April 2017, the investi-
gation culminated in the execution of 15 federal arrest warrants and 13 search warrants by the FBI, with the assistance of federal, state and local law enforcement officers in three states. Immigration detainers were lodged against nine of the defendants – all of them identified as Dominican nationals, most of whom were living in the United States with what are alleged to be stolen identities.
During the course of the eightmonth-long investigation, the FBI
seized nearly 2.2 kilograms of fentanyl, 4 kilograms of heroin – most of which was laced with fentanyl – 1.7 kilograms of cocaine, 142 grams of crack cocaine, 137 pounds of cutting agents, over $400,000 in cash and nine motor vehicles. Five of the vehicles were equipped with hidden compartments used for transporting drugs and money.
Operation Triple Play is an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), assembled by the FBI, that included officers
from multiple agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rhode Island State Police, Providence Police Department, Woonsocket Police Department, Central Falls Police Department, Cranston Police Department, Warwick Police Department, and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.
Valdez’s sentence was announced by U.S. Attroney Stephen G. Dambruch and Harold H. Shaw, special agent in charge of the Boston Division of the FBI. The cases against the Valdez brothers are being handled by federal prosecutors Gerard B. Sullivan, William J. Ferland, Ronald A. Gendron and Richard W. Rose.
In the wake of their guilty pleas, Juan Valdez is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 14, Hector Valdez on Jan. 18.