Drug trafficker sentenced to 12 years in prison | Merrimack Valley

BOSTON — The leader of a heroin and fentanyl trafficking organization based in Lawrence was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison.

Juan Anibal Patrone, 29, a Dominican national formerly residing in Lawrence, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock, who ordered the defendant to serve five years of supervised release after he completes his prison term.

Patrone will be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling. Patrone pleaded guilty last September to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and 400 grams or more of fentanyl and being an alien in possession of a firearm. He has been in custody since his arrest in May 2017.

A large-scale law enforcement operation dismantled two Lawrence drug trafficking organizations, one run by Patrone, the other led by Santo Ramon Gonzalez Nival, Lelling said. Gonzalez Nival was a source of illegal drugs for Patrone, according to investigators.

Patrone and approximately 28 co-conspirators were arrested, including Gonzalez Nival and nine members of his drug trafficking organization, Lelling said. Gonzalez Nival pleaded guilty and was sentenced Sept. 21 to 11 years and three months in prison.

Patrone ran his organization like a business, prosecutors said. He bought drugs from suppliers, including co-conspirator Domingo Gonzalez Martinez, who sold the contraband to Patrone out of the Corniel Market in Lawrence.

Patrone paid rent for stash houses, including 277 Merrimack St. and 20 Cambridge St. in Lawrence. He paid his brother, Josuel Moises Patrone-Gonzalez, and Oscar Marcano to prepare and package drugs in those stash houses.

Patrone also ran a crew of couriers, including some who worked in cars, like Luis Lugo and Leonel Vives, and others who walked the street, such as Daniel Diaz and Andruery Fanas Burgos, telling them where to go and whom to see. Patrone directed his redistributors where to go to purchase narcotics to distribute.

The redistributors included Matthew Shover, Stacey Littlefield, Lacey Picariello, Reynaldo Duran Lora and Rafael Arce. Some of them came from New Hampshire and Maine to obtain drugs to redistribute outside Massachusetts, Lelling said.

Patrone also paid Euclides Alcantara to register and insure his fleet of vehicles under false names and to carry drug proceeds to the Dominican Republic, authorities said.

Patrone discussed the size of his drug business with others, including family members, Lelling said. In intercepted calls, he admitted that he had worked in the business for seven years and wanted to return to the Dominican Republic, where he planned to get out of the drug business and live well, according to federal prosecutors.

Investigators learned from these calls that Patrone’s assets are primarily in the Dominican Republic. The government has undertaken efforts to freeze and forfeit them as part of his sentence in this case.  

Agents found a 10 mm Auto-Ordnance Corp. handgun loaded with a magazine containing six 10 mm rounds of ammunition.  

Investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Homeland Security led to Patrone’s arrest. The Massachusetts State Police and Andover, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell and Wilmington officers assisted the probe.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Heinrich prosecuted the case.