Utica Cocaine Kingpin Convicted

Attorney General Spitzer announced today that the ringleader of a Utica-based drug operation that funneled narcotics from New York City, Florida and California into the Mohawk Valley was convicted in federal court in Syracuse and may face life in prison without parole.

Keith Jennings, 38, of 115 South Street, Utica, was found guilty March 18 of seven drug-related felonies including: Supervising a Continuing Criminal Enterprise; Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering; Conspiracy to Possess With Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine and Marijuana; and four counts of Possession of Cocaine With Intent to Distribute. Federal Judge Howard Munson, who presided over the three-week jury trial, ordered Jennings held in federal custody without bail until his July 9 sentencing.

Twenty-four others involved in Jennings’ drug ring, some of whom cooperated with state and federal authorities, have already pled guilty to drug-related charges and await sentencing later this spring and summer.

"This conviction brings to justice an outlaw whose activity destroyed the lives of those he employed and of those who purchased narcotics from him," said Spitzer. "I thank all those who helped make Utica a better, safer place to live by bringing the full weight of the law to bear on him and his operation. My office will vigorously investigate and prosecute drug dealers and seek the maximum penalties for their crimes."

Jennings and members of his drug operation were arrested in raids conducted in Utica and New York City in late September 1998. The raids were conducted by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force along with the New York State Police, the United States Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Department and the Utica Police Department. The coordinated law enforcement operation, which also included agents of the Internal Revenue Service, successfully dismantled one of the largest upstate drug operations in recent memory.

Jennings and his cohorts transported and sold hundreds of pounds of cocaine and crack cocaine and several thousand pounds of marijuana in Utica and neighboring Mohawk Valley communities between 1995 and mid-1998. The drugs had an estimated street value of several million dollars.

"The evidence at trial showed that Jennings used violence and recruited minors and young women to assist in his drug trafficking activities in Utica, Miami and New York City," said Alan Blumenkopf, an Assistant Attorney General in the Organized Crime Task Force who has been cross-designated a special Assistant United States Attorney, to prosecute this and other OCTF cases in federal courts.

Besides convicting him on drug charges, the jury at Jennings trial also ordered him to pay $1.5 million in cash and to forfeit various property and assets.