BOSTON — A Saugus man who led a massive drug trafficking ring on the North Shore with his brother has been sentenced to federal prison, the U.S. Attorney said Monday.
Lawrence Michael Nagle Jr., 35, and his brother, Christopher Nagle, ran a scheme that distributed tens of thousands of fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement.
Lawrence Michael Nagle Jr., the final defendant among 27 people charged in the drug ring, was sentenced Monday to 19 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, Foley said. U.S. District Court Senior Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV handed down his sentence.
Lawrence Michael Nagle pleaded guilty in April 2025 to five counts of possession with intent to distribute various weights of fentanyl, methamphetamine and oxycodone; and one count each of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams of more of methamphetamine, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, and money laundering conspiracy.
He was one of 27 people charged beginning in October 2022 in connection with a wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic counterfeit prescription pills, prosecutors said.
In 2018, law enforcement identified the Nagle brothers as leaders of a drug trafficking ring distributing various controlled substances throughout the North Shore region of Massachusetts.
The Nagle drug trafficking ring “distributed significant quantities of various controlled substances, including Adderall (both pharmaceutical-grade pills and counterfeit pills containing methamphetamine), methamphetamine, Xanax, Oxycodone (both pharmaceutical-grade and counterfeit pills containing fentanyl), cocaine and marijuana, among others,” prosecutors said.
The Nagle brothers distributed controlled substances to a network of people who would then redistribute the drugs to other traffickers, including separate, but interconnected, organizations, prosecutors said.
Investigators seized more than 74,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, weighing more than 24 kilograms; 591 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine; 1,000 counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl; and 101 counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, prosecutors said.
In January 2022, a search of Christopher Nagle’s apartment recovered more than 74,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, weighing more than 24 kilograms.
On Oct. 25, 2022, a search of Lawrence Michael Nagle Jr.’s home in Saugus and two homes he used to store narcotics resulted in the seizure of more than 7.8 kilograms of fentanyl and more than 650 grams of methamphetamine.
In addition, two Glock firearms and ammunition were recovered from Lawrence Michael Nagle Jr.’s house, close to oxycodone pills. Prosecutors said at the time, he was a felon who was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
Christopher Nagle was sentenced to 139 months in prison in August 2024.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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