BOSTON — A member of the Chelsea-based East Side Money Gang with “multiple prior convictions” has been sentenced to federal prison for dealing fentanyl and cocaine, the U.S. Attorney said Thursday.
Henry Del Rio, a/k/a “Junior,” 28, of Chelsea, was sentenced to 78 months, or 6 1/2 years, in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV handed down his sentence. Del Rio previously served a five-year prison sentence for “multiple felony convictions.”
Del Rio pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Authorities arrested and charged Del Rio in January 2023 along with Jose Perez.
In December 2022, police officers attempted to stop a vehicle speeding through Lexington that Perez was driving, prosecutors said.
Perez accelerated and led police on a high-speed chase, traveling more than 85 miles per hour on residential streets, crashing head-first into another vehicle, and ultimately losing control and colliding into a post.
As Perez exited the vehicle, a loaded Glock 34X 9mm semi-automatic handgun dropped to the ground, prosecutors said.
Perez and Del Rio, the sole passenger, ran away and led officers on a foot chase through a parking lot.
Once officers apprehended the two men, investigators found approximately 63 grams of cocaine and a bag containing 44 smaller, individually wrapped bags of fentanyl -- totaling approximately 53 grams -- where Del Rio had fled.
A third bag containing approximately 49 grams of cocaine was recovered in the vehicle, prosecutors said.
At the time of his arrest, Del Rio was on federal supervised release after serving a five-year prison sentence for multiple felony convictions, including drug and firearms offenses, arising from a prior case related to the East Side Money Gang, prosecutors said.
In December, Perez was sentenced to 142 months in prison after being convicted by a federal jury in August 2024.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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