Leader and Organizer of South Florida Drug-Trafficking Organization Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charges in the Southern District of Florida

Miami, Florida – Broward County resident Palacio Valdes Farley pled guilty in federal court in Miami to conspiring to traffic marijuana, eutylone, and MDMA, as well as conspiring to launder proceeds of the illegal drug activity.

As part of his plea, Farley admitted that from about 2016 to 2019, he organized and led a six-member South Florida drug-trafficking organization (“DTO”).  The DTO obtained marijuana from co-conspirators in California, and MDMA from a South Florida co-conspirator, then distributed the drugs in Florida.  Farley also admitted that on August 3, 2019, while he was serving a prison sentence at Jackson Correctional Institute in Jackson County, Florida, another member of the DTO was arrested while attempting to smuggle marijuana, eutylone, and MDMA into the prison.  The plan was for Farley to distribute the drugs to inmates.  As to money laundering, Farley admitted that he conspired with members of the DTO and others to conduct financial transactions intended to disguise the origins of the drug trafficking proceeds.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

The FBI investigated this case, with assistance from Florida Department of Corrections, Office of Inspector General; Broward Sheriff's Office; Fort Lauderdale Police Department; Lauderhill Police Department; and United States Secret Service.  Assistant United States Attorneys Dwayne E. Williams and Dayron Silverio are prosecuting the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Annika Miranda is handling asset forfeiture.

United States District Judge Kathleen M. Williams set Farley’s sentencing hearing for March 31, 2022.  Farley faces up to 40 years’ imprisonment.

This prosecution is a result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and other priority transnational criminal organizations that threaten the citizens of the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence driven, multi-agency approach to combat transnational organized crime.  The OCDETF program facilitates complex, joint operations by focusing its partner agencies on priority targets, by managing and coordinating multi-agency efforts, and by leveraging intelligence across multiple investigative platforms.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under the case number 19-cr-20667-Williams.

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