East Haven Woman Sentenced to Federal Jail for Crack Distribution

The following is a press release from the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Kristin Longobardi, 31, of East Haven, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, for distributing crack cocaine.        

This matter stems from a joint law enforcement investigation conducted by the FBI New Haven Safe Streets Task Force, the DEA New Haven Task Force, the New Haven Police Department and the Hamden Police Department. 

Through the use of court-authorized wiretaps, investigating officers identified and dismantled a large drug-trafficking organization that was centered in the Newhallville section of New Haven and Hamden, and was responsible for the distribution of crack cocaine and cocaine throughout the Greater New Haven area.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from June through August 2010, Longobardi was intercepted over a wiretap ordering crack cocaine from a co-defendant. She then distributed a portion of the crack she purchased to others.

On May 2, 2011, Longobardi pleaded guilty to one count of using a telephone to facilitate a narcotics trafficking felony. Forty-seven individuals have been charged in federal court with various narcotics offenses as a result of this investigation.

This matter was investigated by the FBI New Haven Safe Streets Task Force (composed of members of members of the New Haven, Milford and Hamden Police Departments and the Connecticut Department of Correction), the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Task Force (composed of members of the New Haven, West Haven, Meriden, Ansonia, Hamden and Branford Police Departments), along with substantial participation by members of the New Haven and Hamden Police Departments. 

The United States Marshals Service also has assisted the investigation. The investigation was funded in significant part by the United States Attorney’s Office Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and supported by the Office’s Project Safe Neighborhoods and Anti-Gang programs.

This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher M. Mattei and Robert M. Spector.