Oxycodone Distribution

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Four Members of Large-Scale Oxycodone Distribution Ring Allegedly Distributed More Than 120,000 Oxycodone Pills Worth Approximately $7 Million


May 6, 2010 - PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and GEORGE VENIZELOS, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), announced the unsealing of an Indictment yesterday charging four members of a Connecticut-based criminal organization with conspiracy to distribute large quantities of OxyContin and other oxycodone pills.

According to the Indictment unsealed yesterday, and other documents filed in Manhattan federal court:

From 2006 to 2008, RAYMOND CAPOZZIELLO headed a large-scale oxycodone trafficking organization that sold more than 120,000 tablets of oxycodone worth more than more than $7 million in and around Bridgeport, Connecticut. Approximately half of the pills sold were 80-milligram tablets of OxyContin. These drugs are powerful painkillers with a high potential for addiction and abuse; they are sold on the street as a substitute for heroin and other illegal drugs for up to $80 per pill.

CAPOZZIELLO and his second-in-command, MARCUS ERODICI, recruited at least 10 straw buyers for the pills, including MICHAEL WALKER and ALEXANDER VANGHELE, to travel from Connecticut to Manhattan to visit a particular pain management doctor ("Physiatrist A"), who wrote prescriptions for hundreds of oxycodone tablets for each straw buyer every 30 days. The straw buyers then traveled to a particular pharmacist in Manhattan ("Pharmacist A") who filled these large prescriptions in the name of the straw buyers, at a cost of thousands of dollars per prescription. The straw buyers provided the pills to CAPOZZIELLO, ERODICI, or another member of the organization, so that the pills could be distributed for a profit to drug addicts in and around Bridgeport, Connecticut. CAPOZZIELLO paid the expenses incurred by the straw buyers, including the cost of the visit to Physiatrist A and the money paid to Pharmacist A for the pills. In addition, members of the conspiracy also paid cash to the straw buyers for their services. CAPOZZIELLO and ERODICI even obtained prescriptions themselves for hundreds of pills of oxycodone through Physiatrist A every 30 days, which they then filled with Pharmacist A and illegally distributed.

ERODICI, WALKER, and VANGHELE were presented yesterday in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge KEVIN NATHANIEL FOX and CAPOZZIELLO was presented today.

The below charts set forth the charges, and their corresponding maximum penalties, contained in the Indictment unsealed earlier today, as well as the defendants' ages and places of residence. This case has been assigned to United States District Judge KIMBA M. WOOD.

Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the FBI and thanked the New York State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement for their assistance in the investigation. He added that the investigation is continuing.

This case is being handled by the Office's Complex Frauds Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys DAVID B. MASSEY and SEETHA RAMACHANDRAN are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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