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Carlos Acosta Estrella, a Mexican national, could face life in prison after he admitted to charges of intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute 100 grams of heroin provides, and possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced this week.
Officers began investigating Estrella in 2019 after DEA agents in Houston said one of their informants heard of a wholesaler in Boston who had nine pounds of cocaine he wanted to sell, a DEA affidavit said. Federal agents contacted local authorities who set up a drug buy through a cooperating witness.
But when Estrella and his mom, Ana Guadalupe Acosta Grajeda, met with a confidential informant outside of a restaurant in Maverick Square in East Boston on Sept. 11, 2019, they said they only had two kilos (four pounds) available. The undercover operative bought the drugs with $60,000 in fake money bundled in plastic wrap, the U.S. Attorney said.
Officers and agents followed them and the fake money to an apartment on Summer Street. Inside the home, authorities found a kilogram of heroin, another kilo of cocaine, several cell phones, and a high-powered tactical shotgun with a laser sight, authorities said.
Acosta Grajeda pleaded guilty to helping her son sell the drugs last year. A federal judge sentenced her in January to five years in prison on a charge of distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
A judge will sentence Acosta Estrella in December.
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