CT man gets 15 years for ties to narcotics operation involving drugs brought from California
A Bridgeport man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of charges tied to a drug trafficking operation involving Mexican-sourced narcotics brought from California to Connecticut.
Wallace Best, also known as “Coop,” 57, faced sentencing Monday in federal court in New Haven, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut. The prison term will be followed by 10 years of supervised release, federal officials said.
Best’s sentencing came after he was convicted of trafficking fentanyl and heroin, according to officials.
Federal officials said authorities implicated Best and others upon initiating an investigation in 2019 into an organization that was distributing heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine in and around Bridgeport. The Drug Enforcement Administration Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force spearheaded the investigation.
According to officials, task force members made four controlled purchases of heroin and fentanyl from Frank Best, Wallace Best’s nephew. The investigation also included court-authorized wiretaps and hundreds of “consensual recordings” that revealed Frank Best and others were being supplied with narcotics by Wallace Best and his other uncle, Jeffrey Thomas, federal officials said.
Authorities also found that Thomas worked with Jason Cox to establish a connection to Mexican-sourced drug suppliers in California who could provide “kilogram quantities” of narcotics for distribution on the East Coast.
In December 2019, a “cooperating source” working with Wallace Best, Thomas and Cox traveled to a Home Depot parking lot in San Diego and purchased 1.1 kilograms of fentanyl for $27,000 from their suppliers. Authorities said the drugs were cut with Xylazine, which is a veterinary sedative, and Tramadol, an opioid pain reliever.
Following that drug transaction, officials said the conspirators arranged to purchase five kilograms of heroin from their Mexican suppliers.
On Feb. 10, 2020, four individuals were arrested after they arrived at the same parking lot to conduct the transaction, according to officials.
During the bust, investigators seized a box containing about 4.9 kilograms of heroin. A subsequent search of a storage locker in San Diego related to the investigation revealed an additional five kilograms of heroin.
On Oct. 14, 2022, a jury found Wallace Best, Thomas and Cox guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin and fentanyl.
The jury also found Wallace Best, Thomas and Frank Best guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base (“crack”).
Frank Best was also found guilty of five counts of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base.
Wallace Best, whose criminal history includes a federal cocaine trafficking conviction in 2002, was arrested on Feb. 11, 2020, according to federal officials. He is free on $150,000 bond and is required to report to prison on July 15.
On April 24, Cox was sentenced to 125 months in prison.
Thomas and Frank Best have not yet been sentenced.
