Cape Cod Brothers Convicted in $5 Million Drug Trafficking Scheme

Two Cape Cod brothers were convicted in federal court on Friday for distributing thousands of oxycodone pills and earning over $5 million in proceeds from 2009 to 2012.

Stanley Gonsalves, 36, of Sandwich, and Joshua M. Gonsalves, 34, of Dennisport, were both convicted of an oxycodone trafficking conspiracy and a money laundering conspiracy, according to the United States District Attorney’s Office.

Stanley Gonsalves was additionally convicted of 17 substantive money laundering charges for purchasing two Mercedes vehicles and property on Hoover Road in West Yarmouth. He was required to give up the property was issued money judgements of $5,074,575. He was also convicted of possessing a firearm.

Joshua Gonsalves was also convicted of a substantive money laundering charge after purchasing a Cadillac with the stolen funds.

Drug transporters working for the brothers moved thousands of 30 milligram oxycodone pill loads from South Florida to New England by plane and car, according to witnesses. The pills were then brought to hotels and residences in Dorchester, Quincy and Onset to be divided and sold.

Witnesses also testified that the brothers’ co-conspirators seized 8,000 pills in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 900 pills in Volusia County, Fla., 280 pills along Route 6 in Barnstable, 4,000 pills along Route 3 Southbound, and other related cash seizures totaling $167,000, according to the indictment.

The money laundering conspiracy used the millions of dollars in drug proceeds to buy new supplies of oxycodone pills and to pay the ongoing expenses, according to the indictment.

Both of the brothers face maximum sentences of 20 years for oxycodone trafficking conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and concealment laundering charges. They also could be sentenced up to 10 years for unlawful monetary transaction laundering, with an additional five potential years to Stanley Gonsalves for the firearms charge.

Trial evidence also included testimony of a car chase and a rollover accident involving the Gonsalves brothers on northbound Route 3 on May 13, 2011. They allegedly rammed their Mercedes SUV into a Volvo station wagon they believed contained $225,000 of drug proceeds that were taken from them in a Bourne robbery.

The men in the Volvo, who allegedly were assisting the robbers, survived the rollover crash and fled into the woods. A recorded call played at the trial revealed that Stanley Gonsalves told a criminal associate about the robbery and said the robbers “didn’t expect us to do what we did” in retaliation.

The four-year investigation case originally focused on John Willis of Dorchester, the Gonsalves brothers’ main oxycodone supplier in Boston’s Chinatown. Willis is now serving a 20-year sentence.

The brothers will be sentenced in U.S. District Court on Jan. 16, 2015.

The Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation division contributed to the investigation of this case.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock