A Bellport man identified by federal prosecutors as a leader of a Suffolk County-based Bloods gang was sentenced Wednesday to more than 23 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl, cocaine and heroin across Long Island, including drugs that caused three people to overdose.
Gary Johnson, 43, was sentenced Sept. 9 by U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack in Central Islip to 280 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Johnson was convicted following a four-week trial on 22 counts of a second superseding indictment, including narcotics distribution offenses and a firearms-related crime.
Federal prosecutors said Johnson was a leader of the G-Shine set of the Bloods based in Suffolk County and sold fentanyl, cocaine and heroin throughout Long Island between June 2013 and November 2020.
The drugs Johnson distributed caused multiple overdoses, prosecutors said, including three non-fatal overdoses in March and May 2020. A jury convicted him of three counts of distributing narcotics resulting in serious bodily injury, along with multiple other drug distribution offenses.
Johnson was also convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm after authorities recovered a semi-automatic firearm from his residence while executing a search warrant.
“As a result of the outstanding work by the FBI, our local law enforcement partners and the prosecutors of this Office, Johnson has been held accountable for his role in a large-scale narcotics distribution operation involving fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine, and for distributing fentanyl and cocaine that caused three individuals to overdose in 2020,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said.
The case was investigated with assistance from the FBI New York Long Island Safe Streets Gang Task Force and the Suffolk County Police Department.
Johnson was prosecuted by the Criminal Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Long Island Division.
