Manchester Man Sentenced for Role in Coffee Can Coke Ring

MANCHESTER, CT — A Manchester man has been given prison time for his role in a drug operation that used coffee cans to hide its stuff, a leading prosecutor said.

Deirdre Daly, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said Thursday that Anthony McKenzie, 56, of Manchester, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello in Hartford to 54 months of imprisonment, followed by three years supervised release, for distributing crack cocaine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the case stems from a joint law enforcement investigation headed by the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Violent Crimes Task Force and the Hartford Police Department that targeted a drug trafficking organization operating in Hartford’s North End that was distributing crack and powder cocaine.

The investigation revealed that David Gil-Grande, of Manchester, received shipments of cocaine, secreted in sealed coffee cans, from Puerto Rico, Daly said.

He then supplied the cocaine to Anthony Shelton, who goes by the street name of “Pretty,” Gerard Brown, also known as “Goldie,” and others, who converted much of the cocaine into crack and distributed both forms of the drug in the area of Barbour Street in Hartford.

Shelton and Brown are McKenzie's sons, Daly said.

The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps, revealed that Shelton and Brown supplied "distribution quantities" of crack cocaine to McKenzie, who then sold the drug to his own customers in the Manchester area, Daly said.

A total of 20 people were charged and convicted as a result of the investigation, Daly said.

McKenzie was arrested on Feb. 2, 2016.

On Dec. 22, 2016, he entered a guilty plead for one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack cocaine).

McKenzie’s criminal history spans approximately 40 years and includes multiple convictions and periods of incarceration, Daly said.

Gil-Grande, Shelton and Brown have pleaded guilty to related charges.

On Jan. 31, 2017, Gil-Grande was sentenced to 70 months of imprisonment. Shelton and Brown await sentencing.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock