Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
U.S. Attorney Peace characterized Russo as “a drug dealer in a white coat.”
By Forum Staff
A Far Rockaway pharmacist has pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone, distribution and possession of oxycodone, and nine counts of filing false personal and corporate tax returns, prosecutors announced Friday.
As set forth in the indictment, court filings and in court Friday morning, Daniel Russo, 44, owned and operated Russo’s Pharmacy on Cornaga Avenue in Far Rockaway. Between March 2011 and June 2014, Russo conspired with others, including medical professionals and employees, to fill fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone and dispense thousands of oxycodone pills in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. Over the course of the conspiracy, Russo’s co-conspirators delivered hundreds of fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions to Russo’s Pharmacy and would then retrieve the filled prescriptions—written out in various patients’ names—so that they could be dispensed elsewhere. Russo accepted payment mostly in cash for the prescriptions. Russo then hid the proceeds from the scheme and filed false corporate income tax returns for his pharmacy for the years 2013 through 2016, omitting the illegal proceeds. Russo also filed false individual income tax returns for the years 2012 through 2016. In total, Russo failed to report over $1 million in earnings, much of it generated from his oxycodone-distribution scheme.
Photo Courtesy of Google
Russo owned and operated Russo’s Pharmacy on Cornaga Avenue in Far Rockaway.
More than a dozen physicians for whom Russo filled prescriptions have since been convicted of crimes related to the distribution of oxycodone.
“Russo was a drug dealer in a white coat,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “He abused his pharmacy license and the trust placed in him by the community to illegally distribute enormous amounts of oxycodone, spreading misery in the community and fueling addiction, all to enrich himself.”
When sentenced, Russo, a Long Island resident, faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the drug counts and up to three years’ imprisonment for each of the tax counts.
