Drug Bust Nabs 'Staggering' Amount Of Fentanyl, Cartel Associates

BOSTON, MA – A multi-agency investigation in the greater Boston area – dubbed Operation High Hopes – yielded a "staggering" amount of fentanyl and the arrests of dozens of suspects, some with links to the Sinaloa Cartel, Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley announced Thursday. Conley said the operation was one of the "longest, most far-reaching and most successful state wiretap investigations in Massachusetts."

Over the past six months, investigators seized more than 15 kilograms of what is believed to be fentanyl, six kilograms of suspected heroin, seven and a half kilograms of suspected cocaine and 6,000 tablets believed to be opiate painkillers from two groups of traffickers, according to Conley. Investigators are still counting the drugs and cash seized, but it is expected to total approximately 35 kilograms of drugs and $300,000 in cash, he said.

According to the Suffolk District Attorney's office, a few milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal; the number of milligram-level doses in the amount seized during Operation High Hopes is in the millions.

"The number of overdoses it could have caused is truly staggering," Conley said in a statement.

One group of suspects is believed to have "direct ties" to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel – once helmed by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The group's alleged leader, 42-year-old Robert Contreras, of Dorchester, was arrested Thursday morning along with about a dozen co-conspirators, Conley said.

His co-conspirators, couriers and high-level customers, who were not identified, were arrested Thursday morning in Brighton, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roxbury, West Roxbury, Swansea and Swampscott. They are also expected to be the target of several trafficking-level indictments, Conley said.

Contreras is believed to be the supplier of an alleged trafficking organization run by Edward Soto-Perez, 43, of Roxbury. Soto-Perez and two alleged associates, Nelson Catala-Otero, 37, of Brockton, and Julio Cuello, 52, of Dorchester, were arrested late last year. They are currently being held on bails ranging from $100,000-$250,000. A fourth man, who was not named, is in custody in Essex County on related charges in Lynn.

All are expected to face additional charges, according to Conley.

The investigation into Soto-Perez began in July of 2017. Conley's office approved a wiretap two months later after investigators presented evidence that Soto-Perez was an alleged high-weight trafficker in an attempt to find his supplier.

The court extended the wiretap 11 times and approved interceptions on more than two dozen phones in the following months. In some calls, Conley said, the suspects referred to drug shipments as "musicians" and to payments as "tickets to the party." In others, they discussed purity levels – a highly potent kilogram of cocaine, for example, was referred to as a "car" that could fit "three passengers," according to Conley.

It was through the wiretap that authorities identified Contreras as Soto-Perez's alleged supplier. Conley said Contreras' organization is believed to be so high in the cartel structure that the next level is located outside the United States.

The wiretap also gleaned information that led to drug seizures in Brockton, Lynn, Randolph, Wilmington and across Boston in the fall and winter, according to the DA's office.

"Individuals who buy and sell at this level aren’t users. They’re not small time dealers, either," Conley said. "They’re certainly not selling to support a habit. They’re profiteers of addiction, trafficking in substances that claim more lives in Massachusetts than all homicides, all suicides, and all car crashes, statewide, combined."

Photo via Boston Police