HARTFORD —
A federal affidavit released Friday describes Connecticut as a consumer state for illegal drugs and Kenny “Capone” Laporte as a major merchant.
Laporte, 38, was arrested Thursday after city police, with help from the FBI, searched his “stash houses” on Amity and Florence streets, Hartford police said. Police seized 1,368 grams, or about 3 pounds, of fentanyl, along with 572 grams of cocaine, other drugs and nine firearms, police said.
Laporte faces unspecified federal narcotics and firearms charges, Hartford police spokesperson Lt. Aaron Boisvert said.
Assigned to the FBI’s Hartford field office, Hartford Detective Abhilash Pillai described the investigation leading up to the search, including controlled purchases of fentanyl and the planting of a tracking device on Laporte’s 2016 Audi A6.
In March, Pillai wrote in the federal affidavit, he and fellow city Detective Brian Kearney heard from a confidential informant about a drug trafficking organization based in Hartford. The informant said Laporte was supplying numerous mid-level drug dealers throughout the capital city with packaged fentanyl and cocaine, according to the affidavit.
The informant described purchasing about 1,000 bags of fentanyl every two or three days from Laporte, according to the affidavit. Pillai detailed carefully controlled drug buys using two confidential informants.
The FBI supplied informants with cash to buy the narcotics and then watched, from the street and from an “aerial surveillance unit,” as Laporte met the informants and as he came and went from his stash houses, Pillai wrote.
On April 21, a U.S. magistrate judge authorized the use of a tracking device to be attached on Laporte’s Audi, the affidavit says. Investigators used the GPS device to monitor Laporte’s movements from one stash house to the other, according to the affidavit.
One of the confidential informants told investigators that Laporte was selling 100 bags of fentanyl for $90, Pillai wrote. In one controlled purchase described in the affidavit, 22 grams of fentanyl was packaged in 982 bags.
“The State of Connecticut,” Pillai wrote, “is generally viewed as a consumer state in regards to narcotic activity. However, it is common for drug traffickers to travel to major distribution centers such as New York to purchase their narcotics for distribution.”
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