Police Announce Boston Cocaine Trafficking Bust

Fourteen people have been arrested and charged with operating a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring in Boston, authorities announced in a news conference Monday.

Following a 13-month investigation, known as Operation Rodeo, Boston Police and FBI agents early Monday executed 16 search and seizure warrants on residences and vehicles in Boston, Canton and Milton, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley.

Authorities also executed warrants on bank accounts and one safety deposit box. The DA's office said it has so far seized more than $400,000 and four vehicles.

"It is the largest investigation and takedown of a Boston-area drug trafficking organization I can recall in my 10 years as Suffolk district attorney," Conley said in prepared remarks.

"The investigation has revealed shipments of as much as 40 kilograms of cocaine at a time coming into Boston through this group, with yearly imports believed to be in the hundreds of kilograms," he added.

According to Conley, the investigation's primary target was Juan Guzman, 33, who is formerly of Hyde Park and is currently incarcerated in Concord for a conviction on gun and drug charges last year. Said Conley:

The evidence developed over the past 13 months indicates that Guzman, aided and enabled by an inner circle of top-level distributors and confidantes, ran a multi-million dollar cocaine trafficking business even while behind bars. This is a group that regularly used violence to achieve its ends and diligently posted bails as high as $50,000 when its members were arrested.

Conley made a point to credit electronic surveillance for its role in the syndicate's takedown.