June 28, 2024 - LAS VEGAS – A California man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring with others to distribute hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills throughout the United States.

According to court documents, on March 17, 2021, George Anthony Manzo (37), of Redlands, California, sold 500 fentanyl pills to an individual. As part of the conspiracy, Manzo primarily utilized Snapchat to arrange drug transactions and communicate with customers. On April 2, 2021, Manzo sold approximately 2,000 fentanyl pills to his co-defendant Michel Flores-Paredes. Later, on June 29, 2021, a traffic stop was conducted on a vehicle driven by Manzo’s girlfriend and Manzo was in the front passenger seat. They were traveling back to Las Vegas from Phoenix where they picked up the pills. During a search of the vehicle, investigators found approximately 30,000 pills. A DEA laboratory analysis found that the pills contained fentanyl. Manzo and his girlfriend were released from custody while investigators waited for the drug test results on the pills found in their car. After their release, Manzo, his girlfriend, and her three minor children fled the United States. In December 2021, Manzo was taken into custody in Tijuana, Mexico and returned to the United States that day.

On January 2, 2024, Manzo pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance – Fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance – Fentanyl.

United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Kevin Adams for the DEA Las Vegas District Office made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the DEA and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Melanee Smith prosecuted the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

If you are aware of controlled substance violations in your community — which may include the growing, manufacture, distribution or trafficking of controlled substances — please submit your anonymous tip through the DEA Tip Line at https://www.dea.gov/submit-tip.

Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced, killing 38,000 Americans in the first six months of 2023 alone. In 2022, more than two thirds of the reported 107,081 drug overdose deaths in the United States involved fentanyl. Just one fentanyl pill can kill. Two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially fatal dose and laboratory testing indicates seven out of 10 pills seized by the DEA contain a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Source: DOJ Release   Photo credit: DEA file photo