Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Charges Stemming from L.R.G.P. Gang Investigation
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 14, 2012 |
BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Justin Cotton, 22, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty plea to distributing crack cocaine before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, a $5,000,000, or both.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. McCabe, who is handling the case, Cotton was arrested along with 14 other L.R.G.P. Gang members and associates following a lengthy investigation into the drug-trafficking activities of the L.R.G.P. Gang on Buffalo’s East Side. The defendant sold crack cocaine at a residence maintained by L.R.G.P. Gang members on Memorial Drive in Buffalo’s Broadway/Fillmore area.
Cotton is the second defendant to be convicted. On September 10, 2012, Joseph Martin also pleaded guilty to distributing crack cocaine.
The plea was the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 18, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. before Judge Arcara.