Massachusetts gang member who was on probation, sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to drug distribution, firearm charges

BOSTON – A Massachusetts man who authorities say is associated with a gang, was sentenced Thursday for trafficking drugs and firearms.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, 38-year-old Steve Depina of Brockton was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to 66 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In October 2024, Depina pleaded guilty to distribution of cocaine and cocaine base and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

            During the investigation, Depina was identified as an older associate of the Cameron Street, a violent gang based largely in the Dorchester section of Boston that uses violence and threats of violence to preserve, protect and expand its territory, promote a climate of fear and enhance its reputation.

In February 2022, Depina was recorded by law enforcement as he sold approximately 58 grams of cocaine to a cooperating witness, whom he believed to be a fellow Cameron Street member, near his workplace. In March 2022, Depina sold approximately 60 grams of cocaine base as well as a 9-millimeter pistol and 16 rounds of ammunition to the same cooperating witness. During a search of Depina’s residence in April 2022, an additional quantity of cocaine base as well as another firearm were seized.

At the time of the offenses, Depina was on state probation for a 2018 conviction for possession with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl in Plymouth Superior Court, for which he was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison. He is therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm and ammunition.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police; Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office; Suffolk, Plymouth, Norfolk and Bristol County District Attorney’s Offices; and the Canton, Quincy, Randolph, Somerville, Brockton, Malden, Stoughton, Rehoboth and Pawtucket (R.I.) Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Pohl and Charles Dell’Anno of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.

This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.

The remaining defendants named in the indictment are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.