Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice
A man from the Dominican Republic living in the Bronx, New York, was sentenced in federal court in Boston for his involvement in a fentanyl distribution operation that supplied drugs to Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York. Jairo Collazo, 36, received a 10-year prison sentence followed by five years of supervised release. After serving his sentence, Collazo will be subject to deportation.
Collazo pleaded guilty in May 2025 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances involving at least 400 grams of fentanyl. He was charged by criminal complaint in April 2024 and indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024.
According to prosecutors, Collazo ran a fentanyl distribution hub out of a basement in the Bronx. The operation sent fentanyl—sometimes mixed with xylazine, an animal tranquilizer—to locations including Boston, Fitchburg, Springfield (all in Massachusetts), Syracuse (New York), and Vermont. Collazo referred to his associates as “employees” and used the basement to package fentanyl into glassine wax paper bags for sale.
Collazo traveled twice to Massachusetts—in December 2023 and January 2024—to deliver fentanyl directly to a cooperating witness working with law enforcement. On April 12, 2024, authorities searched the Bronx basement and found packaged fentanyl ready for distribution, materials for mixing drugs with other substances, and bottles of xylazine. More than two kilograms of fentanyl were seized from Collazo during the investigation.
Court records show that Collazo previously pleaded guilty in New York Supreme Criminal Court in 2021 for criminal possession of heroin and served two years in state prison before being deported back to the Dominican Republic. He later returned to the United States.
“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.”
