BOSTON (AP) Federal authorities have charged 13 people they allege are members or associates of a drug trafficking gang that moved fentanyl, cocaine, suboxone and counterfeit prescription pills from Massachusetts into Maine and New Hampshire and even into a county jail.
The arrests announced Wednesday stemmed from an investigation that started in August 2020 into the Gangster Disciples street gang operating in the Lawrence, Massachusetts area, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The investigation included intercepted cellphone communications between the gang’s leaders, members and drug suppliers, authorities said.
As part of the investigation, authorities seized four gallon-sized bags of counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, weighing nearly 10 pounds, as well as a gallon-sized bag of counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, prosecutors said.
“These defendants allegedly trafficked drugs of all kinds, making money at the expense of addicts and dragging down our community,” acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Nathaniel Mendell said in a statement. “Today’s arrests stop a poly-drug pipeline that supplied street-level dealing across New England.”
All 13 suspects face drug charges and two also face kidnapping conspiracy charges, prosecutors said.
