District of Massachusetts | Boston man sentenced to two years in prison for firearms, ammunition and drug offenses

BOSTON – A Boston man was convicted in federal court in Boston yesterday of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and of distributing cocaine.

Herbert Small, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick to two years in prison, followed by six years of supervised release. In April 2024, Small pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition as a felon and two counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute narcotics.

On August 17, 2023, Small sold 20 grams of cocaine and two firearms – a .22 caliber revolver and a .40 caliber pistol with an 11-round magazine – to a cooperative witness in Dorchester. On October 16, 2023, Small sold approximately 65 grams of cocaine base (commonly known as crack cocaine) to the same cooperative witness.

Small is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition due to a previous federal drug conviction in 2017.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy and James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Office, made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Boston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip C. Cheng and Lucy Sun of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crimes and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a Violent Crime Reduction Strategy to strengthen PSN based on these core principles: building trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from happening in the first place, setting targeted and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, visit Justice.gov/PSN.

This operation is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the creation of permanent multi-agency task force teams operating side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from multiple agencies to work together on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle top drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.