Leader of Queen City Drug Ring Sentenced

CONCORD, NH—Angel Andino, 35, the leader of a drug distribution network in Manchester, N.H., was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison on drug and firearms crimes and related infractions, announced United States Attorney John P. Kacavas. Andino pled guilty to conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone and more than five kilograms of cocaine, and to illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. (Oxycodone is a controlled substance and the primary active ingredient in the pharmaceutical drug OxyContin).

United States Chief Judge Steven J. McAuliffe imposed a prison sentence of 170 months and ordered Andino to serve 10 years of supervised release after completing his term of incarceration. United States Senior Judge Joseph A. DeClerico, Jr., imposed an additional prison sentence of 18 months since Andino committed his offenses while serving a previously imposed term of supervised release.

Andino is one of 11 individuals who have been prosecuted under what has been dubbed by law enforcement authorities as Operation Snow Crab. Four individuals still await sentencing. Nearly 4,500 80 milligram oxycodone pills and more than a kilogram of cocaine have been seized as a result of the operation, along with the forfeiture of five handguns and more than $300,000 in cash and other property.

The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal program to reduce gun violence in New Hampshire by aggressive investigation and prosecution of firearm offenders, education of the public, and training of law enforcement officers about federal firearm laws.

Operation Snow Crab was investigated by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, the Manchester Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bill Morse.