What is fentanyl? More about the synthetic opioid painkiller
Learn what fentanyl is and how it contaminates other drugs, causing overdoses and deaths in unprecedented numbers.
Terry DeMio, [email protected]
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on August 1 that 19 people, including one from Ohio, were indicted by a federal grand jury for participating in a large-scale drug trafficking organization.
According to Eric Olshan, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the drug ring trafficked fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and oxycodone, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.
One of the defendants was 51-year-old Frank Christian of Youngstown, Ohio. All 19 defendants, whose ages ranged from 24 to 61, lived in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. According to federal agents, the operation was run by criminals who smuggled drugs across the country and, in many cases, had a criminal past.
“This conspiracy involved a tight-knit network of family and friends,” Olshan said, adding that the defendants had been trafficking “large quantities of deadly drugs” since August 2023.
Conspiracy to distribute drugs
According to the agents, the drug trafficking organization was based in Detroit and New Castle and was responsible for the acquisition of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine (sometimes in the form of crack), according to the indictment and court documents.
The 19 defendants are accused of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine, 400 grams of fentanyl, 100 grams of heroin and oxycodone, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
If convicted, each faces a minimum of ten years in prison, a maximum of life in prison, and a fine of ten million dollars.
New Castle – near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border – is about 20 miles southeast of Youngstown and 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The town has a population of about 20,000 and boasts on its website that it is “easy to get to from just about anywhere!”
Putting the case together
Investigators reconstructed the case using confidential sources, informants and surveillance evidence, the affidavit said. They also analyzed phone records, drug purchases and court-approved wiretaps dating back to May. The wiretaps and text messages, the affidavit said, revealed that some members of the drug gang had been recruited to work in “trap houses” in New Castle, a place where drugs were processed and distributed.
Law enforcement officials involved in the drug case praised the cooperation between agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michigan State Police, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Nebraska and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The harmful effects of fentanyl
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used by medical professionals to relieve pain, but it has become a deadly drug across the country, particularly because it is cut with other drugs and used for recreational purposes. Experts say that while fentanyl is relatively easy to produce, it is 100 times more potent than morphine and can be fatal in doses as small as two milligrams.
Although the drug epidemic claims thousands of lives each year, overdose deaths in Ohio fell to an eight-year low in January, according to Ohio Department of Health data analyzed by Harm Reduction Ohio, a nonprofit that provides overdose-reversing medications.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s health agency, estimated in May that overdose deaths would decline by about 3% in 2023, but also concluded that deaths from cocaine and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine had increased.
In late July, President Biden signed a memorandum directing authorities to redouble their efforts to disrupt the supply chain of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids through increased information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement agencies, USA Today reported.
Frank Witsil contributed to this report.
