Genovese-linked drug bust in NJ

[Wiseguy]

Four Members of Drug Trafficking Organization Charged with Fentanyl Analogue Distribution and Money Laundering Charges

A federal grand jury in the District of New Jersey returned an indictment today charging four New Jersey men with narcotics distribution and money laundering offenses.

According to court documents, William Panzera, 49, of North Heldon; Thomas Padovano, 48, of Newark; Bartholomew Padovano, 71, of Newark; and Sean Tighe, 46, of Kearny; are alleged members of a drug trafficking organization that sent money and digital currency to China to purchase fentanyl analogues, a schedule I controlled substance, and synthetic cathinones, a schedule I controlled substance, also known as “bath salts,” to distribute in the United States. In addition, Panzara set up a shell company to send funds to China to purchase fentanyl analogues.

The defendants are alleged to have initially received approximately two to three kilograms of narcotics at a time, concealed in parcels sent through the mail, before they began importing larger quantities of narcotics. According to court documents, law enforcement intercepted and seized one of these shipments, which contained approximately 50 kilograms of 4-Fluoroisobutyrylfentanyl fentanyl or 4-FIBF, a controlled substance analogue of fentanyl. Law enforcement also seized an additional approximately 18 kilograms of 4-FIBF from a location in Newark, where the defendants had concealed the drugs received from a prior shipment from China.

As alleged in the indictment, the defendants pressed the fentanyl-related substances into pills that resembled commercial pharmaceutical products and sold them. The indictment also alleges that they made cash deposits into their bank accounts to conceal the earnings from their illegal drug trafficking activities.

Defendant Panzara, Thomas Padovano, Bartholomew Padovano, and Tighe, were charged with drug trafficking conspiracy and international promotional money laundering conspiracy. Additionally, defendants Thomas Padovano and Bart Padovano were also charged with domestic concealment money laundering conspiracy. If convicted on the narcotics offenses in Count One, the defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. If convicted on the money laundering offenses in Counts Two and Three, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger made the announcement.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Stephen Sola and Michael Khoo of the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sammi Malek of the District of New Jersey are prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-mem ... -and-money



Panzera was charged as an associate in a 2012 case.

https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/newyo ... y-indicted

[Beatty]

There you have it. The mob loves those pressed perc 30s

[Newyorkempire]

Probable hes made 10 years later?

[Pmac2]

shitbags

[Amershire_Ed]

Almost 70 ki’s of fent seized. That’s not a small amount.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Probable hes made 10 years later?

Highly doubt it. They'll take his kick kbut keep him at arms reach.
Too smart to induct an open Fent mover.
Plus he'll be gone for 25 and be a little ol man when he comes out.
Why induct an old broke drug dealer. You get more time for moving Fent than a murder rap these days. Who wants to catch a Fentanyl case?

[Tonyd621]

It makes no mention of their mob ties which you know the govt searched far and wide to attach a "solider or "associate" and maybe get a RICO out of it. Which tells me they were on there own

[ChicagoOutfit]

What is the connection to the Genovese?

[PolackTony]

What is the connection to the Genovese?

Panzera was charged as an associate in a 2012 case.

https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/newyo ... y-indicted

[Ivan]

Man if these guys are spiking bath salts with fentanyl they should be run through a meat grinder while still conscious.

[sisterray]

Does anyone know what fraction of a gram of fent might be used just to make one pill? I”m guessing they must’ve been making hundreds of thousands of them and distributing it wholesale to individual dealers. Does the monetary take from that compare to the pill pushing from the last decade, or is it just a substitute to make up the losses from that racket?

[Newyorkempire]

Probable hes made 10 years later?

Highly doubt it. They'll take his kick kbut keep him at arms reach.
Too smart to induct an open Fent mover.
Plus he'll be gone for 25 and be a little ol man when he comes out.
Why induct an old broke drug dealer. You get more time for moving Fent than a murder rap these days. Who wants to catch a Fentanyl case?

Fair

[newera_212]

Does anyone know what fraction of a gram of fent might be used just to make one pill? I”m guessing they must’ve been making hundreds of thousands of them and distributing it wholesale to individual dealers. Does the monetary take from that compare to the pill pushing from the last decade, or is it just a substitute to make up the losses from that racket?

I don't know about these crazy Chinese fentanyl analogues and how much stronger (or weaker) they are to medical grade, real Fentanyl - but real Fentanyl is active at the microgram level, not milligram level. Using real pharmacy Oxycodone 30s as the comparison - there's 30 mg of active Oxycodone in those pills (or technically something like 29.99mg) and a few mg consisting of binders, fillers, and dye. There's a huge huge difference between 30 mg of an active ingredient versus 1-2 ug of active ingredient and the margins of error are way too high for regular people who do not have a background in compounding and science in general to be making pills. I definitely wouldn't trust some random asshole from suburban Newark to be handling the process in his garage of whatever.

I'm not sure what the monetary take is because I don't know what people are paying for the fake pills. Eventually $1/mg became the average standard for real opiates and now, I've heard it is even higher in some places due to how infrequently they are being prescribed and all of the new rules. If people are still paying, say ... $30 for 1 of the fake 30's still... the monetary take is going to be much much much higher, because again the primary ingredient is active at 1/1000th of what the real pills are.

I know there's been a lot of deaths off the fake pills but it's frankly surprising there haven't been even more. It's not an exaggeration when people say one little dosage thing handled wrong by the people making them could mean life or death. I'm suspecting that the people willingly using these fake pills have such high tolerances that it doesn't even matter, and the unfortunate deaths come from mostly unwitting users and are accidents.

Lock these guys up. Maybe ADMAX or Guantanamo for at least the first 10 years of their sentence.

[Bruno187]

Does anyone know what fraction of a gram of fent might be used just to make one pill? I”m guessing they must’ve been making hundreds of thousands of them and distributing it wholesale to individual dealers. Does the monetary take from that compare to the pill pushing from the last decade, or is it just a substitute to make up the losses from that racket?

Fentanyl is dosed on the microgram level pharmaceutically (that's one millionth of a gram) so it's hard to wrap your head around what these guys were doing with 70 kg of the stuff.
You would need the proper equipment and setting to do any forumulations since the stuff aerosolizes and would likely kill you if you don't have on a real respirator.
IMHO these guys who fuck with fentanyl should get the chair since even a slight calculation error or a manufacturing error will likely leave the streets littered with dead.