FRANKIE JOHNSON SENTENCED ON CAREER CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE CONVICTION

BUFFALO, N.Y.-- FRANKIE JOHNSON, 50, of Buffalo, New York, who was convicted on November 1, 2006, of Continuing Criminal Enterprise and Conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments, was sentenced to a term of 8 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge John T. Elfvin, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn of the Western District of New York announced today.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, who handled the case, stated that Johnson was convicted for running a narcotics distribution organization that distributed narcotics

out of various houses located in the City of Buffalo. Johnson ran the organization in the form of a business by employing workers who had responsibilities varying from making sure the houses were properly staffed with workers, stocked with narcotics, to selling the narcotics to customers and picking up proceeds from the days sales. Johnson would then take the proceeds and launder the proceeds through various businesses. In addition to the term of imprisonment the sentence also forfeited three properties, $13,203.00 in cash and secured a million dollar judgement.

The conviction was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service.