Harvey Rodriguez, 29, of Lynn, identified in court papers as "Big Opp," was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a multi-year drug trafficking conspiracy and a January 2023 armed robbery in Woburn. After his prison term, he will spend three years on supervised release.
U.S. Senior District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV handed down the sentence, and prosecutors said the decade-long term reflects Rodriguez's role in both the violent robbery and the narcotics operation. The U.S. Attorney described the case as the result of a lengthy investigation, according to Boston 25.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (the Hobbs Act), according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. That release stated that Rodriguez was arrested in August 2025 and was scheduled for sentencing in late April 2026, and it credited investigative assistance from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Massachusetts State Police and the Lynn Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case, according to the release.
The Woburn Robbery
Prosecutors say Rodriguez and an associate, identified in court filings as Claudio Melo, went into a Woburn apartment on Jan. 30, 2023, pointed semiautomatic pistols at a drug customer and took roughly $24,000 in cash. They allegedly forced the victim to open a safe that turned out to be empty, then left with the money, according to court papers summarized by Boston 25.
Broader Conspiracy And Co-Defendants
Federal filings state that Rodriguez was part of a multi-year operation based in Lynn and across the North Shore that involved manufacturing counterfeit prescription pills and selling kilograms of cocaine and fentanyl. The U.S. Attorney's Office identified several other alleged participants, including Vincent Caruso (also known as "Fatz"), Lawrence Michael Nagle Jr., and Schuyler Oppenheimer (also known as "SK"), and said Rodriguez distributed cocaine and methamphetamine to a cooperating witness and a confidential informant on multiple occasions, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Legal Context
Under federal law, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances is prosecuted under 21 U.S.C. § 846, which carries the same penalties as the underlying drug offenses. The Hobbs Act, under 18 U.S.C. § 1951, criminalizes robbery or extortion that affects interstate commerce. Depending on the types and quantities of drugs involved, those statutes allow maximum sentences that can reach decades in prison and significant fines, and sentences are calculated under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
