A Milwaukee man is headed to federal prison for 11½ years after a judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin sentenced him Wednesday in a case authorities say grew out of a multi-agency look at a family-run drug distribution ring.
Conviction and Sentence
According to a Facebook post from the Milwaukee Police Department, 52-year-old Cain Botello Sr. was sentenced Wednesday in the Eastern District of Wisconsin to 11½ years in federal prison after convictions for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances and illegal use of a communication facility.
The department said Botello led his family's criminal drug-trafficking organization and identified him as a member of the Almighty Latin Kings.
Multi-Agency Task Force
The department credited the Milwaukee Area Safe Streets Task Force in the case and listed its partner agencies: "Milwaukee Police Department; Mount Pleasant Police Department; Caledonia Police Department; Cudahy Police Department; Racine County Sheriff's Office," the post states.
Federal prosecutors in the region have backed similar task force work in other cases. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin has recently detailed coordinated investigations that resulted in significant narcotics convictions, and a separate sweep recently covered in Milwaukee cops bag guns and drugs described Milwaukee Area Safe Streets Task Force officers recovering firearms, narcotics and stolen vehicles.
What the Charges Mean
The counts Botello was convicted of carry serious federal exposure. The illegal-use-of-a-communication-facility statute, 21 U.S.C. § 843(b), makes it unlawful to use a phone, the internet or other communication tools to commit or facilitate a drug felony and can add years to a sentence; see Cornell Law School for the statutory language.
Sentences for conspiracy and distribution turn on the type and quantity of drugs involved and are shaped by federal sentencing guidelines, with the U.S. Sentencing Commission providing guidance on how those rules apply to drug and communication-facility offenses.
Court filings in the Eastern District of Wisconsin or a release from prosecutors would offer fuller detail on the evidence and the specific sentencing calculations that produced Botello's 11½-year term.
