BOSTON – A Fall River man got a taste of hard time today for his role in a massive oxycodone pill conspiracy that brought in thousands of dollars and pills across Southeastern Massachusetts.
Austin Gonsalves, 37, of Fall River, was sentenced to 41 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for his part in the scheme. He was also ordered to forfeit $16,130.
Gonsalves pleaded guilty in May 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He was arrested and charged along with five others in July 2023 for their alleged involvement in a drug trafficking organization that distributed oxycodone pills across Southeastern Massachusetts.
The defendants were subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2023. Between at least February 2023 and May 2023, Gonsalves obtained hundreds of pills at a time from co-defendant Kenneth Veiga in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars and redistributed the pills to others.
On one occasion alone, Gonsalves paid $22,000 to obtain 800 oxycodone pills for further distribution. A search of Gonsalves’ Fall River residence in July 2023 resulted in the seizure of approximately $16,000 in cash and approximately 400 oxycodone pills.
‘This operation shows that we won’t tolerate the flow of deadly pills across our communities,’ said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. ‘We’ll keep working to take down these traffickers and bring them to justice.’
The effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation, a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach to dismantling high-level criminal organizations.
The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Mulcahy of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
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Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime|Sex Crimes|Cybercrime|Public Corruption|Weapons|Human Trafficking|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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