Franklin Richards Gets 130 Months for Cocaine Supply to Gang

Franklin Richards, 34, of Buffalo, NY, is headed to federal prison for 130 months after being sentenced on a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, caps a years-long investigation into a violent street gang’s drug pipeline stretching from Houston to the streets of Buffalo.

Richards admitted to supplying bulk quantities of cocaine to the LRGP Gang, which operates in the Lombard, Rother, Gibson, and Playter Streets area—a zone long plagued by drug-related violence. Assistant U.S. Attorney George C. Burgasser, who prosecuted the case, laid out how Richards sourced the narcotics through co-defendant Earl Brown, who operated as the Houston-based supplier coordinating shipments across state lines.

One critical break in the case came in 2012 when co-conspirator Wilfred Wylie was caught at Buffalo Niagara International Airport with $112,000 in cash—money intended to pay Brown for a fresh load of cocaine. The seizure exposed the scale of the operation and revealed the lengths Richards would go to maintain his drug supply chain, using varied methods to transport narcotics from Texas to Western New York.

Once the cocaine arrived in Buffalo, Richards repackaged it for street-level distribution, fueling addiction and crime in already vulnerable neighborhoods. Federal authorities say the LRGP Gang used profits from the drug sales to finance further criminal activity, including weapons possession and intimidation of potential witnesses.

Co-defendants in the case have already faced justice. Wylie was convicted and sentenced; Earl Brown, the Houston link, was also convicted and is awaiting sentencing. The takedown of this network is being hailed as a significant disruption to interstate drug trafficking in the region.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen. Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. emphasized that convictions like Richards’ are central to dismantling organized drug operations that exploit communities and destabilize cities.