Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 24, 2011 |
BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Luis Vazquez, 24, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years, a fine $2,000,000, or both.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant conspired with other co-defendants to obtain kilogram quantities of cocaine from sources in Puerto Rico and New Jersey for re-distribution in Buffalo, New York. The investigation revealed that on or about November 27, 2009, the defendant traveled from Buffalo, New York to Patterson, New Jersey to assist in transporting two kilograms of cocaine from New Jersey back to Buffalo. Once in Buffalo, the cocaine was distributed to other cocaine traffickers in the Buffalo area for re-distribution.
The defendant was arrested along with 26 others arrested for conspiracy to distribute cocaine in February 2010. He is the seventh defendant to plead guilty in the case.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James H. Robertson; the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Christopher Cummings; and the Buffalo Police Department under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 12, 2011, at 12:30 p.m. EST, in Buffalo, New York, in front of Judge Arcara.