Pablo ‘Paul’ Plaza Gets Life for 3 Murders in Drug Empire

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Pablo “Paul” Plaza, the violent kingpin behind a decades-long narcotics empire in Rochester, is behind bars for life plus 10 years after being convicted of orchestrating three murders to protect his criminal enterprise. Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. handed down the sentence following a federal jury trial that laid bare the brutal tactics used by Plaza and his co-conspirators between 1993 and 2011.

Plaza, who ran the drug ring alongside his brother James Kendrick, was found guilty of the 1998 murder of Francisco Santos, a/k/a “Cisco,” a worker he believed had stolen drugs, cash, and firearms. Santos’ body was discovered in May 1999, buried on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Erie County. Before the killing, Plaza and Kendrick terrorized Santos’ family in a drive-by shooting at their home, targeting his father, step-mother, and two young sisters, then aged four and six.

The violence didn’t stop there. In 2010, Plaza and Kendrick executed Jose Troche, another member of the conspiracy, fearing he would cooperate with federal prosecutors. To cover their tracks, Kendrick staged an alibi by appearing on surveillance video at a local supermarket at the exact time of the murder. The calculated brutality underscored the lengths they would go to silence threats from within.

Another cold-blooded killing tied to Plaza involved Meosha Harmon, an innocent woman shot dead at 137 Cameron Street. Plaza directed co-conspirators Damion Colabatistto and Angelo Ocasio to hunt down a rival drug dealer who had injured him. Mistaking Harmon for the target when she appeared at an upstairs window, the hitmen opened fire, killing her instantly. Colabatistto and Ocasio were later convicted in separate trials and await sentencing.

Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. commended the relentless work of AUSAs Everardo A. Rodriguez and Melissa M. Marangola, along with ATF agents and Rochester Police Department officers, who spent years assembling the case. “Although justice was a long-time coming in this case, it is fitting that, in the end, it was delivered with a measure of permanence,” Kennedy stated.

ATF Special Agent in Charge Ashan M. Benedict emphasized that time will not shield violent criminals from accountability. “The sentencing of Pablo Paul Plaza to life imprisonment plus 10 years for his role in three murders while engaged in a drug trafficking conspiracy demonstrates that though justice may at times be delayed, it will not be denied,” he said. The investigation continues as authorities move to sentence additional co-conspirators tied to the now-shattered Rochester drug ring.