BOSTON – In a grim blow to the fentanyl crisis, Dominican national Jairo Collazo, 36, was sentenced today in federal court to a decade behind bars for his role in a deadly fentanyl distribution ring that stretched from the Bronx to Massachusetts and Vermont.
Collazo was handed down a sentence of 10 years, followed by five years of supervised release, by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns. He is also subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence.
The defendant pleaded guilty in May 2025 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances involving over 400 grams of fentanyl. Collazo was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024 after being charged by criminal complaint in April 2024.
Collazo, along with his coconspirators, operated out of a Bronx basement, packaging the lethal substance into glassine wax paper bags and distributing it to cities including Boston, Fitchburg, Springfield, Syracuse, and Vermont. His distribution trips included two visits to Massachusetts in December 2023 and January 2024.
During a search of the Bronx basement on April 12, 2024, authorities recovered over two kilograms of fentanyl, materials for cutting with xylazine, a horse tranquilizer, and bottles of xylazine itself. Collazo admitted to using xylazine to cut the fentanyl and offered it for sale to a cooperating witness.
In a previous conviction in 2021, Collazo pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (heroin) in New York Supreme Criminal Court and was sentenced to two years in state prison. After being deported to the Dominican Republic, he returned to the U.S. to commit these crimes.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division, announced the sentence. The Fitchburg Police Department and the Boston Police Department played key roles in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel R. Feldman from the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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