News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2007

“Right-Hand Man” To Danbury Drug Kingpin Sentenced To 24 Years In Federal Prison

APR 11-- June W. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England and Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that BOBBY MEDINA, age 26, formerly of Rowan Street in Danbury, Connecticut, was sentenced yesterday, April 10, by United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport, to 288 months of imprisonment for conspiring to distribute up to 95 kilograms of cocaine. MEDINA pleaded guilty to the offense on May 3, 2006.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, Alex Luna was the leader of a large-scale cocaine and crack cocaine distribution ring in Danbury. MEDINA was Luna’s right-hand man and managed the group’s drug-distribution activities. Suppliers in New York City made frequent trips to Danbury to deliver kilogram-sized quantities of cocaine to Luna and MEDINA. When making these deliveries, the suppliers would travel in cars containing secret compartments that were designed to hold contraband, such as narcotics, to elude detection by law enforcement. MEDINA, Luna, and their associates would also travel regularly to various meeting places in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan to pick up illegal narcotics. Once the drugs were received, MEDINA, Luna, and others would go to various hotels in the Danbury area to process and package the cocaine and crack cocaine for street sale.

In sentencing MEDINA, Judge Underhill found that MEDINA had, among other things, used a minor to sell narcotics and threatened a co-defendant from testifying in this case.
The Government also presented evidence that members of the drug ring illegally possessed several firearms and committed numerous acts of violence, including the baseball-bat assault of a rival Danbury drug dealer.
MEDINA’s conviction is the result of a long-term, cooperative investigation between the Drug Enforcement Administration in Bridgeport and the Danbury Police Department. During the investigation, law enforcement officers conducted several months of surveillance of suspected drug traffickers, made numerous undercover purchases, and utilized federal wiretaps on five different telephones. As part of the investigation, law enforcement officers conducted searches of several residences in Connecticut and New York and recovered cocaine and crack cocaine, semi-automatic firearms, ammunition, drug-packaging materials, narcotics paraphernalia, and United States currency.

Twenty-four individuals in Danbury and New York City were arrested, charged, and convicted as a result of this intensive investigation. Several additional defendants await sentencing.
On April 3, 2007, Judge Underhill sentenced Luna to 30 years of imprisonment.

This matter was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Danbury Police Department.