Dominican National Sentenced to a Decade in Prison for Fentanyl Distribution Conspiracy

BOSTON - A Dominican national residing in the Bronx, N.Y., was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for his role in operating a fentanyl distribution hub in the Bronx that sent fentanyl laced with xylazine, a horse tranquilizer, throughout Massachusetts, Vermont and New York.

Jairo Collazo, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 10 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of the imposed sentence. In May 2025, Collazo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl. Collazo was charged by criminal complaint in April 2024 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024.

Collazo, and others, operated a fentanyl distribution hub out of a basement in the Bronx, from which he distributed fentanyl to destinations including Boston, Mass.; Fitchburg, Mass.; Springfield, Mass.; Syracuse, N.Y.; and the State of Vermont. Collazo and his coconspirators, whom he called "employees," used the basement to package fentanyl into glassine wax paper bags for distribution. Collazo traveled to Massachusetts on two occasions, in December 2023 and January 2024, to distribute fentanyl to a witness working with law enforcement. On April 12, 2024, during a search of the Bronx basement, fentanyl packaged for distribution, materials used for cutting fentanyl with other substances and bottles of xylazine were recovered. Collazo used xylazine to cut the fentanyl and offered to sell it to the cooperating witness. More than two kilograms of fentanyl was seized from Collazo.

According to court records, in 2021, Collazo pleaded guilty in New York Supreme Criminal Court to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (heroin) and was sentenced to two years in state prison. Collazo was deported to the Dominican Republic and returned.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Fitchburg Police Department and the Boston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel R. Feldman of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.