Federal Drug Trafficking Charges: Bail Granted

Federal law enforcement officers conducted a long-term, wiretap investigation of a suspected Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) in Fitchburg, Massachusetts that was distributing large quantities of cocaine and a fentanyl/heroin mixture. The structure of the organization involved customers (i.e. informants) who traveled to Fitchburg, MA from Boston, MA to purchase narcotics from a father and son who were in the drug trafficking business together. The son acquired the customers whereas the father acquired the sought-after narcotics from outside sources. The investigation utilized confidential informants, consensually recorded phone calls, secretly intercepted calls, and surveillance. At the conclusion of the investigation, police executed search warrants on multiple residents from which they seized U.S. Currency and multiple drugs. Law enforcement arrested eight co-defendants, one of whom the government alleges was the source of supply for the heroin/fentanyl mixture to the DTO. This man was indicted with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Heroin, Cocaine and Fentanyl in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), (b)(1)(C) and 846 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He was represented at arraignment by court-appointed counsel and ordered detained without bail. Soon after, the man’s wife retained Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, to defend him in this matter. Attorney Calcagni immediately filed a motion for bail and proceeded to a detention hearing. The case against the man was based on a handful of phone calls and nothing more. A search of his phone revealed no evidence of drugs or drug trafficking. After cross-examining the government’s agent on these points and arguing for bail, the Court ordered the man release.