Michael and Philip Luciano, 59 and 30 years old, respectively, are father and son from Staten Island, New York. They’ve been convicted of five years of imprisonment over conspiring to sell hard farmaceutical opioids.

More precisely oxycodone, fentanyl, and butyrfentanyl, a fentanyl analog, between January 2015 and July 2017. The home raid and arrest were executed in August of 2018. Both pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court.

In the beginning, Michael used to buy the narcotics over the Internet from China, but authorities managed to intercept two of his packages. Because of this, Michael asked the help of his son to get into the deep web. Philip would then order the drugs and Michael would ship them by mail.

Most troubling is a conversation found on Philips’s phone from 2015. The texts reveal a recovering overdose victim in the hospital who writes:

“I got back home and shot some. I thought it might have been too much… I became unresponsive, and my friend called an ambulance. They gave me Narcan, and I’m at the hospital now. Can I settle up and get 60 tomorrow?”
Philip Luciano, then replied, “Give me a call when you can.”

The defense argued that Philip himself was addicted to the prescription pills after a leg injury five years ago. An addiction that “clearly clouded his judgment.” Furthermore, the defense attorney, Patrick V. Parrotta, added that Philip is “very embarrassed by and remorseful for his conduct and has a genuine desire to redeem and rehabilitate himself.” Same goes for Michael who “understands that his behavior was deplorable. During the course of his opioid addiction, he displayed terrible judgment.”

The Lucianos were sentenced to five years in prison, four years of post-release supervision, mandatory outpatient drug treatment, and a bill of $15,953 in judgments forfeiture.