News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
December 6, 2007
Pawtucket man sentenced in drugs-for-guns trade
A federal judge today sentenced Tracy Angiolillo, of Pawtucket, to 188 months in federal prison for trading drugs for guns. In February, Angiolillo, considered an armed career criminal, traded crack cocaine and heroin for two guns.
United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the sentence, which Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi imposed in U.S. District Court, Providence.
At the plea hearing in June, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said the government could prove that, on February 22, Angiolillo met with an undercover ATF agent in a hotel parking lot in Pawtucket. He gave the agent 1.15 grams of crack cocaine, about a half gram of heroin, and $100 in cash. The agent gave him two handguns, and agents arrested Angiolillo.
Earlier that month, according to an ATF affidavit, agents had developed information that Angiolillo was interested in obtaining guns in exchange for cash and drugs. The undercover agent made contact with Angiolillo, who said he wanted cheap “burners,” slang for guns, and that, in exchange, he could offer both cash and “product,” a street term for drugs.
Angiolillo pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms, distributing crack cocaine, and distributing heroin. He has a prior state felony conviction for breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony, and two state convictions for drug trafficking. Those three prior
convictions made him an armed career criminal under federal sentencing law, subjecting him to a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, six months less than the 188 months that Judge Lisi imposed.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neronha is prosecuting it as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice initiative against gun crimes. Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, working with Providence Police, ATF, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, and other agencies, aggressively prosecutes federal firearms offenses in an effort to incarcerate those responsible for gun violence and deter others from committing gun crimes. Since 2001, federal gun offenders in Rhode Island have been sentenced to a total of more than 850 years in federal prison.