Massachusetts man sentenced to prison after obtaining 23 firearms from Florida, distributing fentanyl

BOSTON – A Massachusetts man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for distributing fentanyl in exchange for firearms.

According to a release from the Massachusetts Department of Justice, 41-year-old Caesar Ross of Quincy, “was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Dennis F. Saylor IV to 90 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In July 2024, Ross pleaded guilty to one count of firearms trafficking and one count of distribution and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

“Over the course of three months in 2020, in at least four separate transactions, Ross obtained 23 firearms with obliterated serial numbers from an individual in Florida. Ross provided that individual with fentanyl in exchange for the firearms, which Ross explicitly asked the serial numbers to be obliterated from, and which he and his associates then distributed to individuals who could not lawfully possess them in Massachusetts.

“At least five of these firearms have been recovered in and around Boston in the hands of felons and gang members, and at the scenes of a shots-fired incident and an armed assault. The remaining firearms are believed to remain at-large.

“Ross was arrested in September 2023 in Quincy, after providing a cooperating witness with approximately 60 grams of fentanyl in exchange for four firearms, each of which had no visible serial number.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Bryan DiGirolamo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Feld Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division and the Quincy Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elianna J. Nuzum of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence.