Brockton Man Pleads Guilty to Wide-Ranging Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

BOSTON – A Brockton man pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021 to his role in a wide-ranging drug trafficking conspiracy reaching from Boston to Brockton to Lawrence to Cape Cod.

Anthony Goncalves, 23, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, cocaine base, oxycodone and marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled for March 2, 2022. Anthony Goncalves remains in federal custody.

In the fall of 2018, an investigation into a violent Brockton drug crew headed by Djuna Goncalves, Anthony’s Goncalves’s brother, revealed that Djuna Goncalves allegedly worked with others, including his brothers Anthony and Cody Goncalves, to distribute large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, cocaine base and marijuana throughout southeastern Massachusetts from a base of operations at their family home in Brockton (Brockton base). The neighborhood surrounding the crew’s Brockton base has been the scene of numerous murders, shootings and other crimes of violence for several years.

During the investigation, intercepted conversations between Anthony and Djuna revealed that they conspired to distribute marijuana from the crew’s Brockton base, where in October 2018, an unidentified individual fired several shots at Djuna Goncalves. A subsequent search of the Brockton base resulted in the seizure of marijuana, packaging materials, scales, a kilo press, fentanyl and ammunition as well as documents in Anthony and Djuna’s names.

In all, 17 defendants, including Anthony, Djuna and Cody Goncalves, were indicted as part of a wide-ranging drug trafficking conspiracy reaching from Boston to Brockton to Lawrence to Cape Cod. Of the 17 defendants named in the indictment, nine have been sentenced. Anthony Goncalves is the 16^th defendant to plead guilty in the case. Cody Goncalves pleaded guilty on Sept. 12, 2021 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 2, 2022. Djuna Goncalves pleaded guilty on Oct. 7, 2021 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 9, 2022. Under the terms of Djuna Goncalves’s plea agreement, he will serve a minimum of 15 years in prison and the government will recommend a sentence of 308 months in prison.

The charge of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin, 400 grams or more of fentanyl, cocaine, cocaine base, oxycodone and marijuana provides for a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $10 million. The charge of possession with intent to distribute marijuana provides for a sentence of at least five years in prison, at least two years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz; and Brockton Police Chief Emanuel Gomes made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Pohl and Alathea E. Porter of Mendell’s Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit are prosecuting the case.

The operation was conducted by a multi-agency task force through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply. More information on the OCDETF program is available here: https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.

The detailed contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.