An MS-13 gangbanger will spend the next 17 years behind bars for orchestrating a transnational fentanyl trafficking ring while incarcerated at a Florida prison, according to federal prosecutors.
Mario Clifford Rivera, 32, whose alias is “Chuky,” was sentenced Wednesday for using the US Postal Service to smuggle more than three kilograms of the deadly drug across the border from Mexico into the Sunshine State, according to the the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Rivera’s legal status was not immediately clear.
“Rivera’s 17-year federal prison sentence should serve as a warning to MS-13 and other terrorist gangs who seek to flood our communities with deadly poisons like fentanyl,” US Attorney Hayden O’Byrne said in a statement.
“Whether you operate on the streets or behind prison walls, we will identify your leaders and members, dismantle your networks, and hold you accountable using the full force of American law.”
Prosecutors said Rivera, while out on bond in 2023, launched his narcotics operation and sold two kilograms of the lethal substance to a Florida buyer as he awaited the start of a three-year prison stint for throwing a deadly missile into an occupied car and aggravated assault.
The gang member continued running his drug ring from behind bars, using contraband cell phones to direct his dealers on how to sell fentanyl and what prices to charge — all while ensuring he received his share of the profits, prosecutors said.
He also instructed his crew to sell the drug for about $1,500 per ounce, court documents obtained by the Miami Herald showed.
Prosecutors said the fentanyl landed in Florida after it was trafficked across the border wall from Mexico into California, then sent to Rivera and his associates by mail for distribution.
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is committed to ensuring the U.S. Mail is not used as a tool to distribute dangerous drugs, like fentanyl, to our communities,” Miami Division acting Inspector in Charge Steven L. Hodges said.
“The sentence handed down should serve as a reminder that we remain steadfast with our law enforcement partners to bring those who engage in drug trafficking through the mail to justice.”
Rivera pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in January.
His federal sentence will begin once he completes his state term.
President Trump designated MS-13, a notorious El Salvadoran gang, as a foreign terrorist organization when he declared a national emergency at the southern border earlier this year.
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