Gang Bust: JP Man Gets 14 Years For Distributing Heroin

JAMAICA PLAIN, MA — A cocaine and heroin distributor for the Boston street gang Columbia Point Dawgs (CPD) was sentenced today in federal court in Boston, the US Attorney's Office announced today.

Fancisco Arias, 35, of Jamaica Plain, was sentenced to 175 months (or 14 and a half years) in prison and then five years of supervised release. In May 2016, Arias pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute over five kilograms of cocaine, and over one kilogram of heroin. Arias, one of 48 defendants tied to the gang was indicted in June 2015.

Arias, was involved in the importation and distribution of at least five kilograms of cocaine and over four kilograms of heroin in Massachusetts, along with other members and associates of the gang. According to documents filed in court, the CPD, also known on the street as “the Point,” was Boston’s largest and most influential citywide gang.

The criminal organization started in the 1980s in the former Columbia Point Housing Development (now Harbor Point) and, over the years, gang members established drug trafficking crews throughout Boston. The gang is allegedly responsible for the distribution of multiple kilo quantities of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and oxycodone throughout Boston and Maine.

The sentencing comes amid an informational campaign on drug overdoses and what's been called an opioid epidemic across the state.

In August, the state Department of Public Health released its quarterly report on opioid statistics. The data showed that 978 people died on account of opioids in the first six months of the year, down from 1,031 during that same period in 2016.