Leonardo Cristea, a 22-year-old member of the Darknet drug trafficking organization ‘ItalianMafiaBrussels,’ was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to import controlled substances in Colorado.
According to court documents, Cristea and other members of the conspiracy imported kilogram quantities of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a Schedule I controlled substance commonly known as Ecstasy) into the United States via the mail from various countries in Europe.
Between January 2013 and May 3, 2016, the transnational organization operated online as the Darknet vendor ‘ItalianMafiaBrussels’ or ‘IMB’ and sold the MDMA throughout the United States and other countries on black markets, such as the now defunct Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0.
The organization accepted payment for the drugs in bitcoin.
Cristea and Filip Lucian Simion, the leader of the organization, were arrested simultaneously in Bucharest, Romania, on May 3, 2016, and extradited to the District of Colorado in July and October of 2016, respectively.
The case was investigated by the Denver Illicit Digital Economy Working Group, comprised of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, in partnership with the Romanian Central Anti-Narcotics Unit in Bucharest, Romania, and the Belgian Federal Judicial Police, East Flanders Drug Unit in Dendermonde, Belgium.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele R. Korver.
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Key Facts
- State: Colorado
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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