A Dominican national living in the Bronx, New York, has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in running a fentanyl distribution operation that sent fentanyl mixed with xylazine across Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York.
Jairo Collazo, 36, received the sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns. After serving his prison term, Collazo will be subject to five years of supervised release and faces deportation. He pleaded guilty in May 2025 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances involving more than 400 grams of fentanyl. Authorities charged him by criminal complaint in April 2024 and indicted him later that July.
Investigators say Collazo led a group that used a basement location in the Bronx as a base for packaging and distributing fentanyl. The drugs were distributed to cities including Boston, Fitchburg, Springfield (all in Massachusetts), Syracuse (New York), and areas of Vermont. According to officials, Collazo referred to his coconspirators as “employees” and personally traveled twice to Massachusetts—once in December 2023 and again in January 2024—to deliver fentanyl directly to a cooperating witness working with law enforcement.
On April 12, 2024, law enforcement searched the Bronx basement where they found packaged fentanyl ready for sale along with materials used for mixing drugs and bottles of xylazine—a substance often used as an animal tranquilizer but increasingly found as an additive in street drugs. Over two kilograms of fentanyl was seized during this search.
Court records show that Collazo had previously pleaded guilty in New York Supreme Criminal Court in 2021 for criminal possession of heroin. He served two years before being deported to the Dominican Republic but later returned.
“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.”
