Amanda Scher, Ross Mtangi, and Julia Ghahramani were all working professionals in New York City. They were not acquainted with one another, but they did share a lethal connection: on the same day in March 2021, they each ordered cocaine from Billy Ortega that ultimately resulted in their deaths.
Ortega, who is 35 years old and hails from New Jersey, was found guilty of federal crimes that carry a term of a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and a sentence that can go up to and including life in prison.
On March 17, 2021, Ortega sold three professionals (a social worker, a banker, and a lawyer) cocaine that was cut with fentanyl. Among the professionals were: The prosecution said that he was aware that the narcotics he was selling included potentially lethal ingredients because another customer had texted him the following warning:
“Hey guy. Just a little update on what happened the day before: I loaned the most of my final suitcase to a friend, and he just contacted me right this second to tell me that he was admitted to the hospital the previous evening. He was required to have a Narcan injection before being released in the early hours of the morning.”
According to evidence that was presented during the two-week trial in Manhattan federal court, Ortega read this text message prior to coordinating the three deliveries of the drugs that came from the same fentanyl-tainted batch of cocaine that killed the three victims. These drugs came from the same batch of cocaine.
Drug Dealer Convicted In Deaths Of 3 New Yorkers On Same Day
Amanda Scher, Ross Mtangi, and Julia Ghahramani were all working professionals in New York City. They were not acquainted with one another, but they did share a lethal connection: on the same day in March 2021, they each ordered cocaine from Billy Ortega that ultimately resulted in their deaths.
Ortega, who is 35 years old and hails from New Jersey, was found guilty of federal crimes that carry a term of a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and a sentence that can go up to and including life in prison.
On March 17, 2021, Ortega sold three professionals (a social worker, a banker, and a lawyer) cocaine that was cut with fentanyl. Among the professionals were: The prosecution said that he was aware that the narcotics he was selling included potentially lethal ingredients because another customer had texted him the following warning:
“Hey guy. Just a little update on what happened the day before: I loaned the most of my final suitcase to a friend, and he just contacted me right this second to tell me that he was admitted to the hospital the previous evening. He was required to have a Narcan injection before being released in the early hours of the morning.”
According to evidence that was presented during the two-week trial in Manhattan federal court, Ortega read this text message prior to coordinating the three deliveries of the drugs that came from the same fentanyl-tainted batch of cocaine that killed the three victims. These drugs came from the same batch of cocaine.
“Billy Ortega operated a drug delivery business in which he distributed fentanyl, which resulted in the deaths of three people in a single day. Worse yet, Ortega was fully aware that a customer had previously overdosed from the lethal fentanyl that Ortega laced into his product,
but he continued to send the drugs to his victims, despite the fact that he knew the customer had died from an overdose caused by Ortega’s product “According to the United States Attorney Damian Williams.
“Drug dealers don’t identify their drugs as poison; rather, they sell them with a callous disregard for the devastation that their products leave in their wake.”
Williams stated that the incident is just one example of the nationwide fentanyl epidemic that is relentlessly taking lives and wreaking havoc on families from all aspects of American life. Williams claimed that the epidemic claims lives and wreaks havoc on families from all walks of American life.
From 2015 until his arrest in 2022, Ortega ran a cocaine delivery service out of the apartment that belonged to his mother in Manhattan. The residence was used as a stash house. Orders and delivery were handled by Ortega’s family and friends, and he stocked his shop with firearms for self-defense.
According to the prosecution, he worked as a dispatcher who was responsible for coordinating drug delivery by text message.
On the evening of March 17, 2021, after Ortega’s three victims had stopped responding to his messages, he gave the batch of cocaine that had been poisoned with fentanyl to another drug dealer so that he could test it out on “some females.” The second drug dealer accepted Ortega’s offer.
At 10:25 p.m., he sent a message to the drug dealer that read: “If you are going to be in the area, please let me know so that I may prepare some for you because everyone is complaining that it is too Strong. Give it to some ladies, and then get back to me about it, dude lol.”
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Leader Of Drug Delivery Service Convicted Of Selling Deadly Fentanyl-Laced Cocaine
This week, a New York drug courier who sent fentanyl-laced powder to three “clients” who all died on the same day was found guilty.
Attorney Julia Ghahramani, trade executive Ross Mtangi, and social worker Amanda Scher all died of overdoses on March 17, 2021, the day after drug dealer Billy Ortega, 36, sent his associate Kaylen Rainey, 30, to their respective homes in Manhattan, according to the Department of Justice.
Prosecutors showed texts in which Scher asked Ortega whether the latest “batch” was the same as what was sold on Sunday.
“Yeah, we had to get rid of that because it was terrible. In response, Ortega emphasised that it was novel and quite effective. According to the New York Post, he repeatedly tried to contact her afterward but received no response.
After Ghahramani bought some medication, a delivery service number also called but couldn’t contact her.
The federal jury found Ortega guilty on all counts despite his not guilty plea: one crime of narcotics conspiracy leading to death, three counts of narcotics distribution leading to death, and one count of using and carrying a firearm in furtherance of the narcotics conspiracy.
The Department of Justice has stated that he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison if convicted.
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“Billy Ortega ran a drug delivery service that supplied fentanyl, killing three people in a single day,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams. Worse,
Ortega kept shipping the narcotics to his victims despite knowing that one of them had already overdosed on the lethal fentanyl he added to the merchandise. Ortega, the jury decided unanimously, “shall be held responsible for the unfortunate and untimely deaths of the victims.”
