Georgia woman 23rd person sentenced for role in large Massachusetts drug trafficking conspiracy

BOSTON – A Georgia woman was sentenced in federal court in Boston for her involvement in trafficking cocaine and cocaine base as part of a larger drug trafficking conspiracy.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, 39-year-old Tatiana Morrissey of Atlanta, Ga. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to nine months in prison and three years of supervised release. On Feb. 12, 2024, Morrissey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. Morrissey was charged with 24 others in June 2020 as part of Operation Snowfall.

Beginning in November 2018, an investigation began into a drug trafficking organization for which Kenji Drayton was a principal drug supplier. The DTO was comprised of Boston-based street gang members and associates in the Commonwealth Development in Brighton, formerly known as Fidelis Way, a multi-apartment public housing development. It is alleged that the DTO assumed control over multiple apartments, where they stored, cooked, packaged and sold drugs – most of which was cocaine or cocaine base, which the DTO supplied to customers, wholesalers and distributors. As a result, the DTO caused a blight of the development and reduced the quality of life of the other residents. 

It is alleged that the DTO continued to distribute cocaine and cocaine base throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. In 2019, Drayton ordered drugs from an alleged high-level drug supplier and co-conspirator Derek Hart. Hart allegedly put Drayton in touch with Morrissey, who delivered a kilogram of cocaine to Drayton on or about July 27, 2019. Morrissey delivered smaller quantities of cocaine or cocaine base, including between 14 grams of cocaine base and up to 125 grams of cocaine, on multiple other occasions in July and August 2019. Morrissey also collected drug proceeds from Drayton, accepted a drug order from Drayton, stored drugs at her residence.

Morrissey is the 23^rd defendant to be sentenced in this case. The remaining defendant, Derek Hart, remains at large.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; Brian Kyes, U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts; John E. Mawn, Jr., Interim Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement. Assistance was provided by the Braintree, Cambridge, Canton, Randolph and Weymouth Police Departments; the Suffolk, Norfolk and Bristol County District Attorneys’ Offices; and the Suffolk, Plymouth and Norfolk County Sheriffs’ Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaitlin R. O’Donnell and Timothy E. Moran of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit are prosecuting the case.