NEWARK, N.J. — Two New Jersey men admitted their respective roles as members of a drug trafficking organization responsible for the importation and distribution of hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl analogues following an investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark.
On Dec. 18, Thomas Padovano, 50, and Bartholomew Padovano, 72, of Newark, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark.
“These men are being held accountable for their roles in fueling the deadly scourge of fentanyl in America,” said HSI Newark acting Special Agent in Charge Spiros Karabinas. “Together with our law enforcement partners, HSI Newark will employ every resource available to dismantle the drug trafficking organizations who introduce fentanyl to our communities, a substance that is killing citizens at an alarming rate.”
HSI Philadelphia, the FBI Newark, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Newark, the IRS Criminal Investigation, the Newark Police Department, and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office assisted in the investigation leading up to the plea.
According to the investigation, from approximately January 2014 through September 2020, Thomas Padovano and Bartholomew Padovano and other members of a drug trafficking organization agreed to import and distribute various controlled substances and controlled substance analogues, including fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, methylone, and ketamine. Members of the conspiracy placed orders with a source in China and agreed to distribute, and did distribute, the controlled substances and analogues in New Jersey, both in bulk and in the form of counterfeit pharmaceutical pills that contained fentanyl analogues.
Thomas Padovano and Bartholomew Padovano additionally admitted to having engaged in financial transactions aimed at concealing the origin and true ownership of more than $500,000 in drug proceeds.
Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled for May 6, 2025.
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