Fentanyl Kingpins Sentenced to 10 Years in DC Trafficking Ring

WASHINGTON – In a major blow to the city’s fentanyl trade, two Washington D.C. men were sentenced to 10 years in prison for their roles in a large-scale narcotics conspiracy that trafficked kilogram quantities of fentanyl and additional amounts of cocaine from Southern California to the metropolitan region.

Mario Ernesto Benitez, 29, and Diamante Markell Hall, 29, both of Washington D.C., were sentenced to 120 months in prison for their roles in the conspiracy. Benitez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine on January 11, 2024, while Hall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine.

According to court documents, Benitez admitted to trafficking more than three kilograms of a mixture of substance containing fentanyl and 217 grams of cocaine from December 2022 until his arrest in May 2023. Hall admitted to trafficking nearly six kilograms of fentanyl to the metro area in the span of a few months.

The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jarod A. Forget of the Washington Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, of the United States Postal Inspection Service Washington Division, and Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police.

Authorities learned that on December 13, 2022, two packages were shipped at the same time from a facility in Monterrey Park, California, to the Washington, D.C. area. Both packages were addressed to “Martes Benito,” on the 700 block of Congress Street, S.E. The shipper opened the first package pursuant to their own policies as the package was deemed suspicious by its employees. Virginia State Police and the DEA recovered approximately 700 grams of fentanyl pills and 200 grams of cocaine from the first package.

On May 3, 2023, agents arrested Benitez in the District. Upon his arrest, agents executed a search warrant at his residence where they seized six grams of cocaine and 150 grams of fentanyl pills, a DPMS AR-style rifle and a Glock Model 19 handgun, $57,226 in cash, and implements used to ship the narcotics. The magazine in the AR-style rifle was loaded. Hall was arrested in Maryland on September 18, 2023, and agents found 28 grams of suspected cocaine, a loaded Glock Model 30 handgun with an obliterated serial number, additional ammunition of different calibers, a money counter, a digital scale, and $1,500 in cash which Hall admitted was proceeds from the trafficking operation.

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