BOSTON – A Bronx man was sentenced yesterday in connection with his role in a large-scale drug conspiracy that trafficked dozens of kilos of heroin and fentanyl into Springfield, Mass. from Bronx, N.Y. and the Dominican Republic.
Richard Rosario, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 26 months in prison and five years of supervised release. The government recommended a sentence of 102 months in prison. In February 2020, Rosario was convicted by a jury of one count of conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.
Rosario routinely travelled to a heroin mill in Springfield where he and others packaged kilos of heroin for retail distribution for a drug trafficking organization (DTO) which was run by Alberto Marte. The Marte DTO had direct contact with heroin supply sources in the Dominican Republic. On a monthly basis, members of the organization transported between eight and 20 kilos of heroin to the Springfield area. Marte and 11 others have pleaded guilty to crimes resulting from their roles in the organization. In March 2020, Marte was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On Sept. 22, 2016, a search at the heroin mill resulted in the seizure of 1.7 kilograms of heroin, some of which was mixed with fentanyl, that had been packaged or was about to be packaged. Rosario and others had packaged 1.5 kilograms of heroin in addition to what was discovered when they searched the premises. Evidence showed that Rosario regularly packaged more than three kilograms of heroin at a time, an amount that could yield more than 200,000 dosage units of heroin.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Hampden County District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood; Chicopee Interim Police Chief Jeff Gawron; Holyoke Police Chief David Pratt; and West Springfield Police Chief Ronald Campurciani made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Neil L. Desroches, of Rollins’s Springfield Branch Office, and Stephen W. Hassink, of Rollins’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit, prosecuted the case.