Source: Office of United States Attorneys
BOSTON – A member of the East Side Money Gang with multiple prior convictions was sentenced today for conspiring to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. Gang operated in Chelsea, Mass. and surrounding communities.
Henry Del Rio, a/k/a “Junior,” 28, of Chelsea, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 78 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. In May 2024, Del Rio pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Del Rio was arrested and charged in January 2023 along with co-defendant Jose Perez.
In December 2022, police officers attempted to stop a vehicle speeding through Lexington, Mass. that Perez was driving. Perez accelerated and engaged in a high-speed escape attempt, traveling more than 85 miles per hour on residential streets, crashing head-first into another vehicle, and ultimately losing control and colliding into a post. As Perez exited the vehicle, a loaded Glock 34X 9mm semi-automatic handgun dropped to the ground. Perez and Del Rio, the sole passenger, fled and led officers on a foot chase through a parking lot. Once the two men were apprehended, approximately 63 grams of cocaine and a bag containing 44 smaller, individually wrapped bags of fentanyl, totaling approximately 53 grams, were found where Del Rio had fled. A third bag containing approximately 49 grams of cocaine was recovered in the vehicle.
At the time of the offense, Del Rio was on federal supervised release after serving a five-year prison sentence for multiple felony convictions, including drug and firearms offenses, arising from a prior East Side Money Gang-related case.
In December 2024, Perez was sentenced to 142 months in prison after being convicted by a federal jury in August 2024.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Lexington, Chelsea and MBTA Police Departments and Customs and Border Protection. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mike Crowley and Sarah Hoefle of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.