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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 5 – Amid fentanyl deaths, beyond Chinese precursors, US Attorney Damian Williams on Wednesday said "we are also focused on addressing the devastation fentanyl brings to everyday people here in this District."

 In a sit-down session with the press, he added that in 2024 "every overdose will be treated as a crime scene."

  He cited "a heartbreaking case involving the overdose death of a baby at a daycare center in the Bronx."  

 Inner City Press is covering that 2023 case - but also a lower profile one, in which two defendants who sold deadly fentanyl to Christopher Matrisciani was allowed to plead down to crack sale.Andrew Affredou was arrested in connection with the overdose of Christopher Matrisciani on July 2, 2019 in a hotel room in Manhattan. 

 On September 29, 2023, Affredou came without notice before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang to plead guilty to a lesser included offense, crack dealing. Inner City Press was there, the only media in the SDNY Mag court.

  Affredou, who had faced trial, got a plea deal for 8 to 14 months, no appeal if below 27 months. He took it. The sentencing is set for February 5, 2024 at 11 am.

On January 9, 2024 Christopher Mastrisciani's mother Sandra wrote to Judge Broderick, through Williams' US Attorney's Office and their active victims' unit, about Affredou, and his co-defendant George Sewell, set to be sentenced on January 11, asking for the maximum sentence. She described her son, who began addicted while recovering from a crushed ankle, was assigned to a badly run halfway house in Bushwick and was attending Berkley College. She attached photographs.

On January 26, for his February 4 sentencing, Affredou's Federal Defender asked for time served.

On February 2, Matrisciani's father wrote in "these boys knew that what they were peddling was a very dangerous substance...They need to be punished."

On February 5, Inner City Press went to the sentencing, where Affredou got 15 months. Thread:

OK- now at fentanyl sentencing in US v Andrew Affredou. Inner City Press is the only media here

Judge: I will allow his mother and aunt to testify... Under the plea deal, your sentencing guideline is 21 to 27 months imprisonment. Under AG Garland's memo it's 8 to 14 months

AUSA: There's no video of that night. We're not asking the Court to apply the "Death Resulting" guideline... After the death, the defendant continued to sell fentanyl-laced heroin. He's previously served jail terms.

 AUSA: Somehow his phone got erased... The family has been waiting for this day for 4 1/2 years. Let's hear from them. Judge: You only asked for 10 to 16 months on co-defendant Sewell. Why the difference?

AUSA: Affredou kept selling after the death.

Christopher's aunt: I lost my son to this 10 months before...[crying] To Andrew's family, you have to understand - he kept doing it. Chris was struggling to stay sober, he told me, Aunt Crazy, I won't leave you

Aunt: Give the maximum. He gets to live - unlike my nephew, unlike my son. Their friends abandoned them when they died. They do it to save themselves. Andrew, I want you to look at this photo. The pain never goes away

 As Chistopher's mother goes to podium, another family member holds up photo of him. He's told he can't, put photo down on chair. 

Mother: Before they closed his casket, I whispered in his ear, I will always say your name. No one walked in your shoes.

Federal Defender: Their pain is felt. Andrew's family is here too. We request time served - with some home confinement.

 Affredou: I'm sorry for my actions... Now I have niece and nephew who love to be with me.

Judge: Please rise. I sentence you to 15 months in prison.

 These are heartbreaking cases, and Inner City Press will continue to report on them.

 This case is US v. Affredou, et al., 22-cr-238 (Broderick)

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