Submitted by the office of Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb, District of Massachusetts

An alleged member of the Villa Victoria Pirates street gang was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for distributing cocaine.

Anthony Nunez, a/k/a "Dizzo," 26, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to time served of 16 months in prison and six years of supervised release. During the first three years of supervised release, Nunez is precluded from entering certain parts of Boston's South End, and for the entirely of his term of supervised release, Nunez is precluded from associating with 32 gang associates. In June 2017, Nunez pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base.

Nunez is one of 19 defendants, many of whom are affiliated with street gangs operating in the Lenox Street Housing Development area of Boston's South End, who was charged in March 2016 with federal and state drug and firearms offenses. Specifically, on two occasions, including in the Lenox Street Housing Development, Nunez sold crack cocaine to a cooperating defendant.

Law enforcement initiated the investigation in January 2015 with the principal goal of curtailing drug and gun trafficking activities that tyrannized the Lenox Street Housing Development and severely disrupted the lives of residents. The Development and surrounding areas have historically suffered from the violence that accompanies these illegal activities. According to the Boston Police Department's Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), the Lenox area was one of the City's top 10 hotspots for violence in 2015. In fact, there were 30 shootings and more than 75 reports of shots fired in the area from March 2012 to June 2015.

To date, 15 defendants, including Nunez, have been sentenced and the remaining four defendants have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Boston Police Commissioner William Evans made the announcement. The Boston Housing Authority Police assisted with the investigation.