Mack Mulla, a New York rapper recognized for collaborations with Jim Jones and Maino, was sentenced to greater than 20 years in federal jail on drug conspiracy fees. A Pennsylvania jury convicted the 33-year-old on 9 drug-trafficking counts tied to a fentanyl and marijuana community prosecutors stated stretched from Wilkes-Barre to Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani imposed a 242-month time period on James Rodriguez Jr. after jurors in June discovered him responsible of conspiracy to distribute greater than a kilogram of fentanyl, a number of counts of distributing fentanyl, and associated marijuana fees. The courtroom handed down the sentence at a listening to final week within the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

According to prosecutors, Rodriguez operated the narcotics scheme whereas operating Mulla Fashion, a Wilkes-Barre clothes retailer and recording studio that investigators characterised as a entrance for street-level distribution. Federal and native officers raided the placement and recovered marijuana, fentanyl, a ballistic vest, and a handgun. Prosecutors additional alleged that Rodriguez traveled to Mexico in January 2021 to satisfy with MS-13 members who, they stated, provided fentanyl for resale.

New York’s Mack Mulla Sentenced To 20 Years For Drug Conspiracy

Investigators executed a search warrant at an alleged stash home in Wilkes-Barre Township one 12 months later, seizing extra narcotics and firearms. Federal authorities informed the courtroom the property functioned as a safe storage website for bulk portions of fentanyl destined for distribution throughout northeastern Pennsylvania.

The case drew heightened consideration after prosecutors initially accused Rodriguez of supplying the fentanyl that precipitated the October 2021 dying of Luzerne County resident Anthony Greskewicz. Jurors later acquitted him of that cost, together with a firearms-in-furtherance depend that carried a major necessary minimal sentence.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, the Kingston Police Department, and the Luzerne County Drug Task Force carried out the investigation. Prosecutors described the multi-agency effort as essential to disrupting a provide chain they argued contributed to the area’s fentanyl disaster.

Rodriguez, who beforehand organized impartial music showcases in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, noticed Mulla Fashion shut shortly after his arrest. His authorized staff declined to remark following sentencing.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated the end result represents a major step in its broader technique to dismantle fentanyl distribution networks working within the Middle District. The workplace emphasised the persevering with menace posed by fentanyl trafficking and cited the case as proof of ongoing enforcement stress within the area.