WORCESTER — Federal agents spent the spring buying drugs and guns from a Worcester crew. According to a federal indictment unsealed this week, the sellers had no idea who was on the other end of the deals.
Now eight people are sitting in federal custody, charged with running a drug-and-firearm trafficking operation through the streets of Worcester from March through April.
The bust, announced by U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley and ATF Special Agent in Charge Thomas A. Greco, alleges the defendants sold a buffet of controlled substances — cocaine, crack, and fentanyl — to undercover law enforcement officers and confidential informants. Two of them, prosecutors say, were also trafficking firearms on the side.
One of those firearms, according to federal prosecutors, was a "privately manufactured firearm" — federal-speak for a ghost gun. Massachusetts has spent the last two years passing emergency laws to crack down on exactly that kind of weapon. The Worcester crew, the feds allege, was selling them anyway.
RAMOS-JIMENEZ allegedly sent numerous messages advertising firearms for sale.
The lineup
The eight defendants, arrested Thursday and detained after initial appearances in federal court in Worcester:
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- Alisa Walsh, 34, of Oakham — conspiracy to distribute controlled substances
- Osiris Berry-Vazquez, 23, of Worcester — distribution of controlled substances
- Fendy Martinez, 35, of Worcester — possession with intent to distribute and distribution
- Luis Muniz, 33, of Worcester — distribution of controlled substances
- Luis Dick Rivera, 39, of Worcester — conspiracy to distribute controlled substances
- Fernando Valentin-Perez, 45, of Worcester — conspiracy to distribute controlled substances
- Omar Ramos-Jimenez, 27, of Worcester — dealing in firearms without a license and distribution of a controlled substance
- Onix Aviles, 25, of Worcester — dealing in firearms without a license
Ramos-Jimenez allegedly sold firearms and fentanyl to confidential informants. Aviles, prosecutors allege, sold firearms without a license on two separate occasions — including the privately manufactured one.
Firearms and ammunition allegedly sold by RAMOS-JIMENEZ.
Firearms and ammunition allegedly sold by AVILES.
Suspected fentanyl allegedly distributed by RAMOS-JIMENEZ.
Cocaine allegedly sold by MARTINEZ.
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The charges
The drug distribution and conspiracy counts each carry up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The possession-with-intent count against Martinez carries up to 30 years and a $2 million fine. The firearm-dealing charges against Ramos-Jimenez and Aviles each carry up to five years and a $250,000 fine.
If the federal sentencing guidelines hold, none of them are looking at light time.
A federal crackdown
The case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative — the interagency operation launched under Executive Order 14159 to dismantle drug, gun, and human-trafficking rings.
A two-month undercover op. Eight arrests. Six defendants linked to a pipeline moving cocaine, crack, and fentanyl into Worcester. Two more allegedly running firearms on the side. The kind of result that doesn't happen by accident — but also the kind that keeps happening, in a state that already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country.
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