West Seneca Man Pleads Guilty to Marijuana Trafficking

U.S. Attorney’s OfficeJanuary 10, 2012

Western District of New York

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Carl Korzkowski, 34, of West Seneca, N.Y., pleaded guilty to marijuana trafficking before Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny. The charge carries a maximum sentenced of 20 years in prison, a $1,000,000 or both.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. McCabe, who is handling the case, Korzkowski oversaw a long-running drug trafficking organization in the Buffalo area that distributed significant amounts of marijuana in 2010. The defendant helped obtain marijuana from Canada through distribution centers in northern New York State, in and around the Town of Massena, and the Akwesasne Indian Reservation, which extends into Canada. Korzkowski then distributed the marijuana to a network of customers in the Buffalo area. The defendant also stored over 100 pounds of marijuana at his residence on Harlem Road in West Seneca.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Christopher M. Piehota; the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Wilbert L. Plummer, Acting Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Division; Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero; the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda; the Hamburg Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Williams; the Lackawanna Police Department, under the direction of Chief James L. Michel; the West Seneca Police Department, under the direction of Chief Edward Gehen; and the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy B. Howard.