October 25, 2010
Contact: DEA Special Agent Douglas S. Collier, M.A.
Public Information Officer
TEL: (973) 776-1143
Enforcer for a Camden Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced  to Two Consecutive Life Sentences Plus 25 Years in Federal Prison For Murder, Attempted Murder of A Witness and Drug Trafficking
OCT 25  -- CAMDEN, N.J. - John G. McCabe, Jr., the Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the New Jersey Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") and Paul J. Fishman , the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced a Camden, New Jersey enforcer and hit man for the Raymond Morales drug trafficking organization was sentenced today to two consecutive life sentences plus 300 months in federal prison.
Juan Rivera-Velez, 36, a.k.a. "Junito," and "Two-Face," was previously found guilty after 
a nine-week jury trial of murder in furtherance of a conspiracy to distribute powder and crack 
cocaine; witness tampering through the attempted murder of a witness; conspiracy to distribute 
cocaine and crack cocaine; and use of a firearm in relation to witness tampering. U.S. District 
Judge Joseph E. Irenas imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and testimony in court:
From 1993 through April 2003, Rivera-Velez conspired with Raymond Morales and 
others to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine in the Camden area and to protect Morales' 
continuing criminal enterprise through the use of threats and violence, including murder.
The jury found that in relation to the drug trafficking conspiracy, Rivera-Velez used a 
handgun to commit the premeditated murder of Miguel Batista, of Camden, on Sept. 26, 1996. 
On April 5, 2003, Rivera-Velez shot Rafael Colon-Rodriguez, of Camden, in the head in an 
attempt to kill him and prevent him from communicating with law enforcement or providing 
court testimony regarding Batista's murder. Colon-Rodriguez survived the attempt on his life 
and testified at Rivera-Velez' trial.
Rivera-Velez' sentencing concludes a seven-year joint federal, state and local law 
enforcement investigation into Morales' continuing criminal enterprise, which resulted in the 
conviction of 24 defendants on federal charges and an additional 35 on state charges. The 
Morales enterprise distributed thousands of kilograms of cocaine and crack cocaine to many of 
Camden's other significant drug-trafficking organizations from1993 through 2003, and it 
protected and furthered its operations through violence and intimidation, including six contract 
murders and the attempted murder of Colon-Rodriguez.
Four defendants, all of whom had gone to trial, received life sentences. Eighteen of the 
24 federal defendants received 10 years or more, with eight of them receiving more than 20 years 
in prison. In addition to dismantling the Morales organization, the investigation disrupted five 
other large-scale drug organizations which had been operating in Camden for years: the Jevon 
Lewis "Cool V" organization; Mack Jones "Bear" organization; Mark Davis 
"Andos"organization; Ronald Damon "Rockmeyer" organization; and 19th and River Road 
organization.
Because of the severity of his conduct and because of Rivera-Velez' prior convictions for 
drug trafficking and manslaughter (making Rivera-Velez a "career offender" under the advisory 
Sentencing Guidelines), his advisory Guidelines range was life in prison. In discussing the 
application of the Guidelines, Judge Irenas said, "the Guidelines say this man should spend every 
day of the rest of his life in jail, and I simply can't find one circumstance that tells me that the 
Guidelines got it wrong."
In pronouncing the sentence, Judge Irenas stated: "He is a violent man and it took very 
little to provoke his violence." Judge Irenas also said, "every day he is free would be a danger to 
society."
U.S. Attorney Fishman thanked special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration 
("DEA"), under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge John G. McCabe Jr., in Newark; 
and Investigators with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Unit, under the 
direction of Camden County Prosecutor Warren W. Faulk; along with member agencies of the 
Camden Initiative - which falls under the Philadelphia/Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking 
Area ("HIDTA") Task Force. The Camden Initiative includes the Unites States Attorney's 
Office for the District of New Jersey, DEA, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and 
Explosives, Department of Homeland Security, Camden Police Department, Camden County 
Prosecutor's Office, Cherry Hill Police, New Jersey State Police, and the State of New Jersey 
Office of the Attorney General's Division of Criminal Justice.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Diana Vondra Carrig and 
Howard Wiener of the U.S. Attorney's Office Criminal Division in Camden.