New Haven man gets prison term on drug and other charges

HARTFORD — A New Haven man was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for trafficking narcotics and trying to shoot and kill a rival drug dealer, according to federal prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford ordered 36-year-old New Haven man Michael Smith, also known as “Head,” to the prison sentence followed by four years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said in a news release.

The sentence stems from a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that began in 2019. Investigators started looking into a New Haven-based drug trafficking network that distributed heroin and crack and determined Smith served as the ringleader, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Investigators also discovered Smith’s girlfriend, Keilah Boria, managed bank accounts that he used to launder drug proceeds. From 2016 to 2019, Boria deposited more than $200,000 into the accounts. She also rented vehicles for Smith that he used to traffic narcotics, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

When police wiretapped Smith’s phone for 35 days, he received on average 75 phone calls and text messages related to drug sales per day, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Multiple people told law enforcement that they purchased drugs from Smith “on a near daily basis,” Avery said in Smith’s sentencing memorandum.

In December 2019, police heard Smith on a wiretap describing how he shot a rival drug dealer. New Haven police officers collected 31 shell casings from the Fair Haven neighborhood where the shooting took place, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Police later heard Smith continued to threaten the victim and his family, according to court documents.

Smith has been detained since his arrest on Dec. 23, 2019.

In September 2020, a federal grand jury in New

Haven returned an indictment charging Smith and seven others in connection with the drug organization.

On April 15, 2021, Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine base, or crack; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a narcotics trafficking offense and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of a specified unlawful activity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Smith originally faced up to 30 years for the offenses. Court documents state he has been in and out of jail since he was 16 years old and has 11 prior convictions that are primarily drug-related.

Boria pleaded guilty to related charges and was sentenced in September 2021 to nine months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.