Taunton man sentenced to prison for role in drug trafficking conspiracy

BOSTON – A Taunton man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy.

Gino Romano, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release. On Jan. 18, 2022, Romano pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

Romano was charged in November 2020 after he was identified as a customer and distributor for a cocaine supplier who was charged in “Operation Snowfall” – a multi-year investigation into drug trafficking activities by Boston-based street gang members and associates. The investigation identified Romano on intercepted calls with the cocaine supplier during which he used coded language to negotiate pricing and a meeting location for a cocaine deal. At the designated location, Romano and the supplier met briefly in a vehicle before the supplier left the scene. A subsequent search of Romano’s vehicle recovered 125 grams of cocaine and the cellphone he had used to communicate with the supplier.

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 Acting Commissioner Gregory Long made the announcement. Assistance in 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’ Offices. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaitlin R. O’Donnell and Timothy E. Moran of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit prosecuted the case.