BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Naugatuck man was sentenced to 300 months in prison for drug trafficking in Bridgeport, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ),
Antonio Small, 30, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after the 25-year sentence by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford.
Court documents say members of the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force and Bridgeport Police Department began investigating Small in the summer of 2017.
Their investigation found that Antonio Small, Louie McDowell, Christian Rodriguez, Evan Sheffield, and Anthony Small were distributing large quantities of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine in Bridgeport.
The DOJ said Antonio Small was the leader of a westside Bridgeport organization, which used a home on Poplar Street in Bridgeport to store, process and package drugs. The DOJ also said the group was involved in violence.
Officers intercepted a call that showed that Antonio Small had a gun at the home, and he was looking to retaliate against someone he believed had wronged him.
The DOJ said a close associate of Antonio Small and a woman were shot and killed near the Poplar Street home in October 2018.
They also said that one of Small's co-conspirators led police on a chase, struck and killed a driver, and maimed two pedestrians.
Small’s criminal history includes convictions for drug, firearm, evidence tampering, and other offenses, and he was on state probation.
Small has been detained since November 2018. In January 2020, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute, more than one kilogram of heroin and a quantity of crack.
McDowell, Rodriguez, Sheffield and Anthony Small also pleaded guilty.
This matter has been investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force and the Bridgeport Police Department, as well as the DEA, Connecticut State Police, and the Stratford, Norwalk, Seymour and Trumbull Police Departments.
Ashley RK Smith is an assignment desk editor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at asmith@fox61.com
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