Braintree Man & Leader Of Large-Scale Drug Trafficking Organization Heading To Prison
Wednesday, June 4, 2025, 7:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
BOSTON, MA.- A 32-year-old Braintree, Massachusetts, man will be spending the next decade in federal prison after being sentenced on Monday for being the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization that distributed large quantities of high-purity fentanyl mixed with xylazine, also known as “Tranq” throughout the Braintree, Massachusetts, area.
On Monday, June 2, 2025, Jonathan Melendez Decatro, 32, of Braintree, Massachusetts, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV, to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release on his previously entered guilty plea.
In January 2025, Melendez Decatro appeared in Federal Court in Boston, Massachusetts, and pleaded guilty before Judge Saylor to one count of Conspiracy to Distribute and to Possess with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Fentanyl. Melendez Decatro was indicted on the charge in June 2023.
Melendez Decatro Identified As A Drug Kingpin
According to U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley and charging information filed with the District Court, in 2019, Melendez Decatro was identified as the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization operating within the Brockton, Massachusetts, area, who sourced narcotics directly from Colombia, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
On two dates in 2021, packages intended for Melendez Decatro were intercepted by federal law enforcement investigators and were each found to contain a kilogram of cocaine. Additionally, on several dates in 2023, Melendez Decatro conspired with an individual who resided in the Dominican Republic to distribute 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl to another individual in Braintree, Massachusetts.
It was later determined that the purity of the fentanyl ranged from 54% to 79% and also contained xylazine. During a court-authorized search of Melendez Decatro’s Braintree residence, investigators seized over $11,000 in U.S. currency in denominations consistent with drug trafficking and also located clothing Melendez Decatro wore during fentanyl transactions.
