Through the end of last year, an FBI task force, working with an informant, purchased thousands of dollars of the deadly opioid fentanyl in transactions at an Albany Avenue bodega.
Court records reveal this task force was building a case against suspected fentanyl traffickers identified as part of an ongoing FBI investigation called “Operation Fallen Kings,” which targets violent gang and drug activity in the city.
Two men — Pascual Ivan Medina and Danny Castillo — along with a woman, Alexis Velez, were named in an 11-count indictment released by a grand jury in Hartford last week, charging them with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. Castillo was also indicted on firearm charges.
Castillo, Medina and Velez, were taken into custody last month. It is unclear if others have been charged amid “Operation Fallen Kings.”
In August of last year, members of the task force heard from an informant that Medina and Castillo had been moving large quantities of fentanyl through the Hartford area, federal criminal complaints show.
When an FBI agent checked the names, he learned quickly that Castillo had been previously identified in a Drug Enforcement Administration probe into heroin and cocaine traffickers in the area.
Early in the FBI’s investigation, the task force learned that Castillo used his family’s business, Albany Grocery Store, as a safe place to set and execute drug deals.
At the direction of the FBI’s task force, the informant began communicating with Castillo to set up deals, court records show. In the first deal, the informant, strapped with a wire and given $550 in government funds, went into the store and paid Medina $200 from an existing drug debt, the federal complaint reads.
The informant told Medina he wanted to buy heroin, but did not want to “mess with fentanyl,” the complaint reads. When Castillo arrived, he spoke with the informant in the back of the store and said he only had fentanyl for sale.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is many times stronger than heroin and authorities say that dealers have pivoted to selling the drug amid a years-long opioid crisis. At times the drug is mixed with heroin to increase potency.
The informant asked Castillo for 10 grams of fentanyl, and Castillo left to get the drugs. Task force members attempted to follow Castillo from the store, but lost him in traffic.
Contacted later, the informant was told not to sell the product Castillo gave him. In a meeting the next day, Castillo gave the informant more than 50 grams of fentanyl.
Castillo said he was getting higher quality fentanyl — $55 a gram, a criminal complaint read.
The deals continued through the fall, records show, largely at the Albany Avenue bodega, often at 10 to 30 grams per sale. Records show that Medina was also involved in deals to sell fentanyl.
In a meeting with Castillo on Dec. 10, he told the informant he could get him a kilogram of fentanyl for $45,000; a man in Massachusetts would hold it for him and Castillo could get the informant a sample later that day, the complaint read.
When they met later that night, Castillo told the informant he had 2 1/2 kilograms of fentanyl left and he could sell it for $45,000 a kilogram. He assured that it could be mixed with heroin, the complaint read.
No deal for a kilogram was made, but the informant met again with Castillo last month to purchase 50 grams of fentanyl. During that deal at Castillo’s home on Woodland Street, Castillo told the informant he was trying to collect $80,000 from his customers to get 5 kilograms of fentanyl.
Nicholas Rondinone can be reached at nrondinone@courant.com.
