Main supplier and drug distributor in Massachusetts drug trafficking organizations sentenced to prison

BOSTON – The main supplier and drug distributor of two drug trafficking organizations was sentenced for his role in a wide-ranging cocaine trafficking conspiracy in Massachusetts.

According to the Department of Justice, Kenji Drayton, 42, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to five years in prison and four years of supervised release. On April 12, 2022, Drayton pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

Drayton was charged with 23 others in June 2020 as part of Operation Snowfall.

According to the charging documents, beginning in November 2018, law enforcement investigated a DTO – for which Drayton was a principal drug supplier – that 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.

The second part of the investigation targeted large-scale drug suppliers and their associates. It is alleged that the DTO continued to distribute cocaine and cocaine base throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. Intercepted communications in spring 2020 revealed Drayton complained about drug supply shortages resulting from the pandemic. On one call, Drayton discussed a co-conspirator’s travels to California to obtain significant quantities of cocaine for the DTO.

Drayton served as one of the main drug suppliers and distributors within each of the identified DTOs. Drayton purchased, sold, and distributed wholesale quantities of cocaine as part of each DTO and is estimated to have distributed a total of over 3.5 kilograms of cocaine.

Drayton is the second defendant to be sentenced in the Fidelis-Way related drug conspiracy, and the 11th defendant to be sentenced in the other charged drug conspiracy case. The remaining defendants are either pending sentencing or have pleaded not guilty and are pending trial. One defendant, Derek Hart, remains at large.

First Assistant United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; Douglas Bartlett, Acting U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement. Assistance with the investigation 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 prosecuted the case.