Four men were arrested Friday for their alleged roles in a Lawrence-based fentanyl, cocaine base and methamphetamine drug dealing operation in the area.
Thirty-one-year-old Esaias Gill-Gonzalez and 28-year-old Domingo Lugo Diaz, both of Lawrence; 27-year-old Cote Colby of Derry, N.H.; and 25-year-old Keith Lane of Salisbury were arrested on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute the listed drugs. All four were detained following their initial appearance in federal court and will return this Friday for a probable cause and detention hearing.
Police seized a pill press and over $52,000 in suspected drug sale money. U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, said police departments in Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen, Salisbury and Derry, N.H., provided assistance to the FBI’s North Shore Gang Task Force.
According to court documents, the investigation began last September 2022 with intercepted communications on numerous cell telephones between drug dealers in the Merrimack Valley areas of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Besides the drugs, records say the operation included counterfeit pills containing fentanyl.