United States of America v. Jesus Cabrera a/k/a “Gee”

New York, New York criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Distributed Fentanyl Linked To Eight Overdose Deaths In The Bronx

Leader Of Drug Trafficking Organization That Distributed Fentanyl Linked To Eight Overdose Deaths In The Bronx Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison

JESUS CABRERA, a/k/a "Gee,” was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for leading a drug trafficking organization (the "DTO”) that sold deadly fentanyl in the Bronx. CABRERA previously pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and fentanyl analogue, and to a related firearms count. As part of his guilty plea, CABRERA admitted that the DTO's drug trafficking resulted in the August 2021 death of Malik Rahman, and that the DTO's product was recovered from the scenes of seven other fatal fentanyl poisonings in 2021.



Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim said: "Jesus Cabrera led a drug trafficking organization that sold enormous amounts of deadly fentanyl in New York City, which led to the deaths of at least eight victims in the Bronx in 2021, and affected countless others in our community. Today's sentence and those imposed to date on Cabrera's co-conspirators send a loud message to fentanyl traffickers that their actions will be met with dire consequences in this District. I commend the work of the DEA, NYPD, and the career prosecutors and investigators of this Office who have worked tirelessly to hold accountable those who seek to flood our community with this deadly drug and to profit from addiction and tragedy.”



As alleged in the charging instruments, court filings, and statements in the public record:



Between approximately 2019 and February 2022, the DTO operated principally from a block on 142nd Street between Brook Avenue and St. Ann's Avenue in the Bronx (the "Set”), where its members sold glassines of fentanyl in bulk to dealers who then re-distributed the DTO's product on the Set and in other areas of the Bronx. Members of the DTO also sold individual glassines to users struggling with addiction who lined up on the Set on an almost daily basis. CABRERA was the undisputed leader of the DTO, and co-defendant MICHAEL AMAYA, a/k/a "Miz,” worked as CABRERA's second in command, managing and overseeing the DTO's various street-level dealers, baggers, and lookouts, including the other defendants charged in this case. Every day, members of the DTO, at CABRERA's direction and often in his presence, packaged the DTO's product in residential apartments for distribution on the Set. The DTO then relied on a roster of street-level dealers to push massive amounts of its deadly product into the community. Indeed, in the fall and winter of 2021 alone, the DTO distributed an estimated five to six kilograms of fentanyl per month, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit for the DTO.



The DTO frequently used a signature "stamp” on the glassines of fentanyl it sold—a step CABRERA took to continue making money at the expense of the victims and families affected by the DTO's drug dealing and the opioid epidemic in this country. For many months, the DTO stamped its glassines with a "Supreme” logo. Starting in or around December 2021, the DTO began using an "Off White” logo, and then switched to a "Thriller” logo. Despite CABRERA's awareness of the potential deadly impact of fentanyl, he and the other DTO members continued pushing the DTO's product. Indeed, when CABRERA was asked by another DTO member whether people were overdosing from the DTO's product, Cabrera laughed it off and said, "na man, people hating, they don't want us making money.”



On or about August 25, 2021, one of CABRERA and AMAYA's co-defendants, Alberto Concepcion, sold a quantity of loose "Supreme”-stamped glassines to an individual on the Set ("Individual-1”), who subsequently provided one of those glassines to Rahman. Rahman died from an overdose shortly after ingesting the substances in the "Supreme”-stamped glassine, the residue of which later tested positive for, among other things, fentanyl and fentanyl analogue. Both CABRERA and AMAYA were directly involved in overseeing Concepcion's narcotics sales at that time. Indeed, in the days leading up to Rahman's fatal overdose, CABRERA and AMAYA exchanged text messages referencing certain quantities of narcotics that were going to Concepcion for resale on the Set, as well as the cut of the over $110,000 in recent DTO proceeds they were going to provide to Concepcion.



Including Rahman's fatal overdose, between in or around March 2021 and in or around December 2021, there were at least eight confirmed fatal overdoses in the Bronx at which the DTO's "Supreme”-stamped glassines were found on the scene.