Bridgeport Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Selling Cocaine

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Frankie Velazquez, 33, of Bridgeport, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 120 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for distributing cocaine.

This matter stems from Operation Slim Fast, a long-term investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force that focused on drug trafficking, firearm trafficking, and gang activity in the Bridgeport area. As a result of the investigation, 19 individuals have been charged in federal court with various narcotics and firearms related offenses.

According to court documents and statements made in court, intercepted calls, and law enforcement surveillance revealed that Velazquez and others trafficked kilogram quantities of cocaine from Puerto Rico through Massachusetts and into Connecticut. Between November 2010 and January 2011, Velazquez was involved in the trafficking of between five and 15 kilograms of cocaine from Massachusetts into Connecticut.

On September 22, 2011, Velazquez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Velazquez has been detained since his arrest on February 22, 2011.

This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, which is composed of personnel from the FBI and the Bridgeport, Norwalk, and Trumbull Police Departments. The United States Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Connecticut State Police, and the Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stratford, Hartford, and Stamford Police Departments assisted the investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tracy Dayton, Jonathan Freimann, and Doug Morabito.