Two Plead Guilty in Trenton Narcotics Ring
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 19, 2013 |
TRENTON, NJ—A Mercer County, New Jersey man today admitted his role in a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone pain pills, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. An Atlantic City, New Jersey man also admitted to engaging in related drug transactions by obtaining oxycodone pills and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Giuseppe A. Scordato, 47, of Hamilton, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone. Eugene Brown, 71, of Atlantic City, New Jersey, also pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of distribution of oxycodone and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Scordato and Brown entered their guilty pleas before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Between November 2011 and July 2012, Scordato obtained oxycodone-based prescription pain pills from Joseph A. “JoJo” Giorgianni, Mary Manfredo, and Charles Hall, III from a restaurant on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Trenton (JoJo’s Steakhouse) and a clubhouse located next door to JoJo’s Steakhouse (Giorgianni’s Clubhouse). He would sell those pills and remit the proceeds to Giorgianni and Manfredo at JoJo’s Steakhouse in exchange for a portion of the proceeds from those sales.
Eugene Brown admitted to engaging in related drug transactions. On May 12, 2012, Brown traveled from Atlantic City to Trenton to provide Endocet® pills, an oxycodone-based pain pill, to Charles Hall, III in exchange for payment. Brown also admitted to previously giving Endocet® pills to Hall in Atlantic City and Camden, New Jersey. Brown, who previously had been convicted of a felony, admitted to possessing a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol on July 20, 2012.
The drug conspiracy and distribution charges are punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The offense of being a felon in possession of a firearm is punishable by 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing for Scordato is scheduled for June 25, 2013, and for Brown, June 26, 2013.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Trenton Resident Agency, Newark Field Office, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty pleas.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric W. Moran and Matthew J. Skahill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Trenton and Camden, respectively.