3 Miami Area Men Sentenced For Opioid Trafficking

BOSTON, MA – Two men from Sunny Isles and one from Miami were sentenced in connection with an opioid trafficking ring that operated between Miami and Boston. The sentences were handed down in a Boston courtroom last week.

Twenty-seven-year-0ld Craig Drummond of Sunny Isles was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 10 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Drummond pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments back in March, according to federal prosecutors.

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Jenssi Astacio, 32, also of Sunny Isles, was sentenced by Judge Casper to 70 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In April, Astacio pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

Twenty-seven-year-old Darren Infante of Miami was sentenced by Casper to time served and two years of supervised release, including seven months of home detention. In August 2017, Infante pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone.

Astacio, Drummond, Infante and seven others were arrested and charged in March 2017. The arrests were the result of a three-year investigation that began in 2014.

"The defendants conspired to transport sizable quantities of oxycodone from Miami, Fla., to Massachusetts, where it was distributed in the greater Boston area," according to federal prosecutors. "Proceeds from the sales were then transported and, or, transferred back to Florida and laundered in various ways."

Prosecutors said that Astacio shipped and directed others to ship large quantities of oxycodone pills from the Miami area to Massachusetts, negotiated the sale of oxycodone pills for redistribution and directed others to use bank accounts to launder the cash proceeds from the drug sales.

"Drummond shipped sizable quantities of oxycodone from Miami to Massachusetts, where it was distributed in the greater Boston area, and Infante shipped eight packages containing oxycodone from Miami to various addresses in Massachusetts for distribution," according to federal prosecutors.

The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling of Boston; Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Kristina O’Connell of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; Inspector in Charge Joseph W. Cronin of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Marshal John Gibbons for the District of Massachusetts and Special Agent in Charge Mickey D. Leadingham of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division.

Assisting in the investigation were the Massachusetts State Police, Biddeford, Framingham, Haverhill, Lawrence, Manchester, Methuen, Millis, Natick, Stoughton and Waltham Police Departments in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nadine Pellegrini and Craig Estes of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit.

Photo courtesy John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse