A man from Lynn has admitted his guilt in a federal courtroom to a pair of armed heists, both targeting drug dealers for their cash and contraband. Claudio Melo, 33, known on the streets as "Blue Drilla," is a Crip gang member with a history inked in felonies and various incarcerations, including charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, armed robbery, larceny, and malicious destruction of property, as the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.
Melo's dark dealings first came to light with a March 2020 armed robbery conceived by Vincent Caruso, a/k/a “Fatz,” who at the time was enmeshed in his own legal battles over fentanyl and firearm charges. In this scheme, Melo, along with an accomplice, executed a violent incursion, pilfering upwards of $18,000 in drug earnings and assorted jewelry and during the foray, Melo assaulted a victim with a weapon; Caruso has since faced judgement and is serving a close to 21-year sentence.
The second incident that Melo confessed to participating in struck in January 2023, with held up guns and a pretense of a cocaine trade, as Melo and his associate swindled a drug customer out of $24,000 in what was supposed to be an exchange for drugs, the empty safe a silent witness to their thievery.
These actions fall under the gravitas of the Hobbs Act Robbery, a federal offense that can imprison an individual for up to 20 years, trailing with it years of supervised release and substantial fines, and Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV is poised to lay down Melo's fate come November 13, as outlined by the announcement from United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and her retinue of law enforcers, this entire investigation coming to a close with the essential aid of local authorities and Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard steering the prosecution.
