TRENTON, N.J. – An associate of the DeCavalcante crime family today admitted possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute and possessing a firearm during the course of a drug crime, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Mario Galli III, 28, of Toms River, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of possession of a FEG 9mm Model PGK-9HP gun, loaded with 12 rounds of ammunition, by a convicted felon in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Between Sept. 19 and Sept. 20, 2019, investigators from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office executed search warrants on Galli’s residence and the residence of a conspirator. They recovered between400 and 500 grams of cocaine. The search of Galli’s residence also recovered a FEG 9mm Model PGK-9HP gun loaded with 12 rounds of ammunition. At the time, Galli was on supervised release from a 2016 federal conviction for conspiracy to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine. He served 30 months in federal prison on that charge.

The charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The count of being a felon being in possession of a firearm during a drug crime carries a penalty of five years in prison which must be served consecutively to the penalty for the drug crime, and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 7, 2020.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited the members of the FBI’s Organized Crime Task Force under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark; and investigators from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel V. Grady O’Malley of the U.S. Attorney's Office’s Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel: James Butler Esq.