CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A Massachusetts man has been sentenced in New Hampshire to 45 years in federal prison for his role in operating a fentanyl trafficking organization.
The U.S. attorney’s office in New Hampshire said Sergio Martinez, 30, of Lawrence, pleaded guilty on the sixth day of a jury trial last fall.
Trial testimony showed that Martinez, who said in a recorded phone call “what we give out is poison,” managed numerous people, including runners, phone dispatchers and people who mixed and packaged the drugs. Prosecutors said investigators seized over 12 kilograms (26.5 pounds) of fentanyl from the Martinez organization during the investigation.
Prosecutors said testimony showed that there were three sets of customers. The first group ordered the smallest amounts of drugs. Phones used to communicate with them were in a home known as “the base.” Dispatchers took hundreds of calls daily from customers placing fentanyl orders and directed them to meet distributors in Lawrence and Haverhill, Massachusetts, and sometimes Salem, New Hampshire. Distributors had 200-gram bags of fentanyl that cost $6,000 each. Distributors testified that they sometimes had lines of 10 to 15 customers, most with New Hampshire license plates, waiting for them on the street.
Testimony showed a second set of customers were serviced by the “big phone.” They bought from 10 to 200 grams of fentanyl at a time and distributed it themselves. The third set of customers ordered at least a kilogram or more of fentanyl at a time and called Martinez directly. The drugs would be delivered via taxi.
Prosecutors said drug runners testified that they provided Martinez with between $30,000 and $35,000 per day based on aggregate drug sales.
Twenty-four people have pleaded guilty and been sentenced in this conspiracy. Five others await sentencing. Three defendants remain fugitives. One defendant is awaiting trial.
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