BOSTON (WHDH) - Federal officials on Wednesday announced four arrests in connection with a “prolific” drug trafficking ring on the North Shore that distributed fake prescription pills containing fentanyl.
The alleged leader, Vincent Caruso, along with his mother, Laurie Caruso, Ernest Johnson, and Nicole Benton are all facing charges for the alleged sale of counterfeit Percocets that were made of fentanyl, Acting United States Attorney for Massachusetts Nathaniel R. Mendell said during a news conference.
The suspects were arrested following a raid in Revere that ended with seizure of an array of firearms and illegal drugs, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
Mendell said the group was also in possession of pill press that was cabable of producing up to 15,000 pills per hour.
The drug trafficking primarily took place in Lynn and surrounding communities, but it also extended north to Bangor, Maine, according to investigators.
Investigators say Caruso would boast on social media about his criminal enterprise.
“It’s not an under cover video, it’s a video that was posted on social media. The brazenness is remarkable and we believe it makes for very strong evidence,” they said.
The government also claims the group had ties to the Crips and were responsible for violent crimes.
“Members of these gangs were selling narcotics in Massachusetts and Maine and in turn participating in an interstate fire arms trafficking scheme to gain their tools of intimidation to become one of the most violent street gangs in northern Massachusetts,” they said.
Today’s bust comes as part of “Operation Street Sweeper” wich was launched last year by the FBI in order to target three gangs. As of now the operation has led to 14 arrests.
“When you step back and look at today’s arrests, remember that fentanyl overdoses kill thousands of people in Massachusetts every year,” Mendell said. “Death rates are rising fast, particularly among Black and Hispanic communities. Many people lost sight of that over the last two years, but we did not.”
The ongoing investigation, which the feds have dubbed “Operation Streetsweeper,” has yielded a total of 14 arrests and the execution of 92 search warrants in the past year.
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