Just before Anthony Rosa was hit with the maximum sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison on May 13, he seemingly attempted to do everything in his power to delay the inevitable. Sitting before Judge Juan Merchan, he claimed he couldn't hear the proceedings due to health issues, then stated he couldn't see and needed glasses. However, when he was fitted with headphones, he didn't like what he heard, shaking his head.
Law enforcement officials seized approximately three kilograms of fentanyl and heroin during a raid on an alleged drug packing mill in the Bronx, valued at $500,000.
"This indictment alleges a heartbreaking level of neglect that resulted in a fatal overdose of a four-year-old boy. Parents have a fundamental responsibility to keep their children safe, and by allegedly allowing fentanyl and other narcotics into their residence, these defendants failed in that duty."
Some experts have mischaracterized smoking fentanyl as "safer" than injecting, seeking to reduce risks among users. Narrowly considered, the statement is accurate, as inhalation avoids needle-sharing, reducing risks for HIV, hepatitis C, bacteremia, abscess formation, and infective endocarditis among users. However, there's no clinical-trial-level evidence (randomized trials with real patients) showing smoking illicit fentanyl is safer than injecting it. It isn't, and that conclusion is unsupported by toxicology, environmental exposure science, or emerging data.
On Friday, Gonzalez was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison for giving Dreith counterfeit fentanyl pills called "blue M-30s." She also got an extra four years and four months for other felony convictions related to selling drugs. "This sentencing reflects the seriousness of the defendant's actions and the devastating and deadly consequences of distributing fentanyl," Fresno County Dist. Atty. Lisa Smittcamp said in a statement.
At that time, the U.S. indicated that criminal organizations were manufacturing the synthetic opioid from precursors shipped from China and demanded stronger action from Mexico to contain the problem. The Mexican government's campaign against the drug began during Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's presidency, but the results were not immediately tangible as the number of overdose deaths in the United States multiplied, reaching almost 74,000 in 2022.
On June 11, 2018, seeking relief from chronic pancreatitis pain, Ashley Romero took what she believed to be half a pill of Percocet. Within minutes, she was dead. The pill, which Romero's boyfriend had acquired on the black market, was packed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be fatal in doses the size of a dozen grains of salt. Romero left behind a then seven-year-old son.
Staten Island bested all the other boroughs with a 49% reduction in accidental deaths from overdoses last year, from 157 in 2023 to 81, according to the most recent statistics available from the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In addition to the work of the task force, the borough is leading the nation with the AI-based Hotspotting the Overdose Epidemic program, which garnered a 77% drop in fatal overdoses among active participants for the 12 months ending in April 2024.
"There's no doubt that America's adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the United States in part because they want to kill Americans. If this were a war, that would be one of the worst wars. I believe they killed over the last five or six years, per year, 200-to-300,000 people. You hear about a 100,000, which is a lot of people, but the number is much higher than that. That's been proven."
Donald Trump may walk away from the Ukrainian war, the US president's oldest son has said in comments to a Middle East conference. In a lengthy tirade against the purpose of continued fighting in Ukraine, Donald Trump Jr also said Ukraine's corrupt rich had fled their country leaving what they believed to be the peasant class to fight the war.
An Alabama attorney has been accused of trying to poison her husband with a substance she believed to be fentanyl. Sara Baker, 74, of Vinemont, Alabama, is accused of putting the substance in her husband's food or drink on three separate occasions in September, report the Cullman Tribune, Law & Crime, ABC 33/40, WAFF 48 and WVTM 13.
Jay Clayton, left, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York at the New York City Bar Association, being interviewed by James M. McDonald, a Sullivan & Cromwell attorney. Rick Kopstein Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Tuesday his top priorities on the job include focusing on what everyday New Yorkers want, such as going after gun and fentanyl-based crimes and increasing the speed of corporate compliance in white collar criminal investigations.
Mr. President, thank you so much for taking questions with your assembled cabinet. I wanted to clarify something that you had said on Sunday regarding the boat strikes near Venezuela. You had said that you didn't know if the second strike on that one boat had happened, but you wouldn't have wanted it, Gutierrez began, adding: Now that your administration has acknowledged that it happened, do you support that second strike?
LOS ANGELES A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to working with Mexican traffickers to bring drugs into the U.S., officials said Thursday. Diego Bonillo, 30, pleaded guilty in July to multiple charges, including conspiracy to import controlled substances such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. As part of his plea deal, he admitted to using his position to allow drug-filled cars into the U.S. from Mexico without inspection.
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping just negotiated a trade deal in their first face-to-face meeting in six years, following reports of China's first purchase of U.S. soybeans in months. The leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, South Korea. During the talks on Thursday, both leaders agreed to de-escalate trade tensions, Trump told reporters, announcing the U.S. will reduce tariffs by 10% on Chinese goods from 57% to 47%.
