By Forum Staff
Five members and associates of a Long Island-based drug trafficking organization known as “No Budget” were charged on Thursday with conspiring to distribute cocaine and fentanyl since 2017, federal prosecutors announced.
Nicholas Andrade, Julian Hutchins, Prince Jones, Jose Lopez, and Ryan O’Malley engaged in a years’ long drug trafficking operation transporting fentanyl and 137 kilograms of cocaine across the country for distribution primarily on Long Island and in Queens. Andrade, the leader of the organization, is also charged for his role in the March 9, 2023 murder of Jose Manuel Sosa in Bay Shore and the March 10, 2023 shooting in Queens of a potential witness to the murder. The four defendants arrested Thursday in New York were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Locke, who ordered them detained pending trial. Hutchins was arrested in Florida and will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.
As alleged in court filings, since 2017, the defendants carried out the large scale trafficking and distribution of fentanyl and cocaine on Long Island and maintained a series of stash houses in College Point and on Long Island. Throughout the investigation, phone records and surveillance regularly captured the defendants meeting with one another and exchanging duffle bags, luggage, or other bags in manners consistent with narcotics trafficking. As a result of court-authorized searches, law enforcement recovered dozens of kilogram wrappers with cocaine residue, kilogram presses used to reshape narcotics, packaging materials, and quantities of fentanyl and cocaine. On April 27, 2025, law enforcement intercepted a truck travelling from California to New York containing a shipment of 137 kilograms of cocaine destined for No Budget’s distribution operation. In total, the investigation revealed that the defendants were responsible for the distribution of over 235 kilograms of cocaine and 20 kilograms of fentanyl.
In addition to Andrade’s narcotics operation, he directed several violent crimes, including the March 2023 murder of Sosa and the subsequent attempted murder of a potential witness to the murder. Sosa’s murder was precipitated by a dispute that had escalated over the preceding months between Andrade, Sosa, and another Long Island based drug dealer. In early March 2023, Andrade and others planned to rob Sosa’s residence. However, on March 9, 2023, Andrade directed other members of No Budget to kill Sosa. Later that day, when Sosa was alone in his driveway, the shooter exited a borrowed Audi and shot Sosa multiple times, killing him. The shooter and getaway driver sped away and the two met up with Andrade.
The next day, in an effort to cover up No Budget’s involvement in Sosa’s murder, Andrade and the shooter developed a plan to lure John Doe-1—the owner of the Audi used in the murder—to a location in Queens and kill him. When John Doe-1 arrived at the location, acting at Andrade’s direction, the shooter had a brief conversation with John Doe-1 in the Audi, and upon exiting the Audi, turned and fired into the vehicle, striking John Doe-1 in the head. John Doe-1 sustained serious injuries but ultimately survived his wounds.
If convicted of the charges, the defendants face up to life in prison.
