New Haven Man's Conviction Is Latest In Drug Ring Probe: Feds

NEW HAVEN, CT — With help from many nearby police departments including New Haven's, the FBI New Haven Safe Streets/Gang Task Force investigation into a drug trafficking ring that led to 55 convictions, announced a 26th.

Tommy Julius, 39, of New Haven was sentenced to serve 41 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release with the six months of that release in home confinement for his role in the narcotics trafficking ring, prosecutors said.

Also known as “General” and “J,” Julius regularly distributed heroin and crack cocaine to street sellers, per courts documents and U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut Leonard C Boyle.

This latest conviction comes out of the New Haven police and FBI Task Force investigation that "targeted drug trafficking and related acts of violence by members, former members and associates of the 'Island Brothers' street gang in New Haven," Boyle said.

The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and controlled purchases of narcotics from Julius and others, also revealed that the drug trafficking organization had established a base of operation in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, prosecutors said. And discovered a "second drug trafficking network that involved the large-scale distribution of heroin, Boyle said.

Julius was arrested in July 2019. In September 2021, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, records show. He's been locked up since October 2021, when he violated release conditions and his bond was revoked, prosecutors said.

Julius’ criminal history — both state and federal —dates to 1998 and includes several convictions, including a federal firearm conviction in 2011 for which he received a sentence of 10 years in prison. In January 2018, he received an additional 14 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his federal supervised release.

The Task Force investigation included the New Haven, Milford, Hamden, and East Haven departments, Connecticut State Police, Connecticut Department of Correction and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.