Workers at Boston-area enterprise kept falling ill on the job - which involved packaging and selling crack and fentanyl, feds say

Several alleged members of a Boston-area drug ring face court appearances today after their arrests on a charge of conspiracy to sell fentanyl and cocaine - in an operation with growing pains that included the high costs of constantly driving or Ubering between Boston and Providence and employees coming down with work-related ailments, from asthma and neck problems to nausea and drug overdoses, according to documents unsealed in federal court today.

A total of 26 people - including several relatives and "paramours" - face charges in US District Court for their alleged involvement in the ring, although documents redact the names of six people who remain at large.

The feds had been watching ring members - and making undercover buys from them - since March, 2022, an affidavit by an Arlington police officer working with the DEA states.

Yulial "Sonny" Cuello-Reynoso of Leominster was the leader of the ring - and the controller of the separate phones used to both receive orders and dispatch runners with drugs to customers, including in West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, according to the affidavit, which adds the ring had at least three "stash houses" for their drugs, one in Providence and two in apartments on Fairland Street in Roxbury and Msgr Lydon Way in Dorchester.

When Cuello-Reynoso got locked up in 2022, his "paramour," Yordania "Mommy" Abel Rivera, temporarily took over, the affidavit states, adding she sold drugs to an undercover investigator on three separate occasions. But it wasn't easy on her: She complained to Sonny that her asthma was acting up from handling all the drugs - and she had problems because Cuella-Reynoso refused to give her or another ring member the passcode to the telephone used to communicate with the drivers who were supposed to be delivering drugs to customers.

Cuello-Reynoso was able to get things under control again after he was released on the state charges in December, 2022. However, the affidavit states, when he blew past the stop sign at American Legion Highway and Morton Street - right in front of the Boston Police VFW post - Boston Police officers on patrol stopped him, discovered he had a suspended license and then noticed salable amounts of crack "in plain view" in his car, which meant another trip to a lockup.

The affidavit describes an organization that gave out free samples to hook potential customer and was willing to bargain on prices and delivery locations, at least with larger buyers, such as a man on the Cape who didn't want to make the long trek to Brockton, Boston or Providence to get his drugs.

Like any other hard-charging enterprise, Cuello-Reynoso's operation faced constant struggles with costs.

At one point this past May, ring member Yeison Vizcaino Vizcaino was complaining to another alleged ring member, and his own "paramour," Elisbania Tejeda-Soto, about the money he was spending hauling drugs between Boston and Providence:

VIZCAINO then complained about "driving so much and spending so much in gas." TEJEDA-SOTO pointed out that an Uber would cost "100 bucks per day or more." VIZCAINO then suggested, "Yes, but let’s coordinate better and avoid to go back and forth."

The affidavit recounts that when state troopers stopped an Uber Vizcaino was using to transport drugs from Providence to Boston, he called Tejeda-Soto, who advised him to say the drugs weren't his.

TEJEDA-SOTO told VIZCAINO she loved him and to trust in God.

In addition to Abel Rivera's asthma, other ring members were captured on wiretaps and surveillance audio complaining about workplace ailments.

On Nov. 9, 2023, agents listened in as Vizcaino complained about his neck, in a call with Rubert "Soga" Adrian Jiminez:

During the call, VIZCAINO stated that his neck was hurting. JIMENEZ asked, "How long do you work?" VIZCAINO replied, "It depends. I make a lot to last for a couple of days." VIZCAINO explained that the process of doing so caused his neck to hurt because it involved "bagging and cutting." JIMENEZ said, "That's stressful," and VIZCAINO said, "I have to keep looking down while doing that, so that is also why my neck hurts." VIZCAINO explained, "I make a total of 300 grams of the green stuff in 0.5 lines at a time, so two green ones are equal to 1 gram. I have to make 300 grams five lines at a time. Then I have to paint it, double bag it, continue to cut it, bag it, and so on." JIMENEZ said, "That is a lot of work. You also have to be careful with the bags, in case we have to swallow a ball." VIZCAINO acknowledged and said, "I have to be very careful and make sure that each ball is super tight and that the bag is properly wrapped because no one knows which ball will end up being swallowed." JIMENEZ said, "You can easily miss something since you have so many things to take care of." VIZCAINO agreed, saying, "I try to be careful, but I am only human." Later in the call, which lasted over thirty minutes, VIZCAINO stated, "Those people are such rats. Think about the stuff those people consume on a daily basis. It's tough. I have been feeling nauseous for days because of the smell of that stuff in there. I get dizzy a lot while preparing that stuff. Think about the effect on the bodies of the people who take that every day." JIMENEZ agreed.

As at numerous other points in the affidavit, the author then translated the drugspeak into English, including that "the green stuff" is crack, packed in five-gram packages.

On June 21, 2023, during a Boston traffic stop, alleged drug runner Johangel Mejia Hernandez asked police to call an ambulance after telling officers "he had swallowed bags of drugs and felt ill." At another traffic stop, in Norwood, by state troopers, he also needed an ambulance ride because he'd swallowed drugs:

[H]e passed four baggies believed (based on their markings) to contain fentanyl and powder and crack cocaine.

On Jan. 30, 2023, alleged drug runner Francisco Tavarez Contreras called 911 from a Mobil station in Norwood to report a medical emergency.

Upon arrival, police observed a female, who TAVAREZ CONTRERAS stated was his girlfriend, who appeared to be suffering from a fentanyl overdose. Police recovered a baggie of suspected fentanyl (marked with red) from the female's purse. TAVAREZ CONTRERAS made inconsistent statements to police, and police ultimately observed a large bag containing multiple smaller bags of suspected narcotics hanging out of TAVAREZ CONTRERAS's jacket pocket. The smaller bags were color-coded (red, blue, and green) and were of different sizes. Officers also seized $1,556 from TAVAREZ CONTRERAS. Altogether, officers seized approximately 48 grams of suspected fentanyl and cocaine.

Innocent, etc..