Two Brooklyn men on Thursday were sentenced to prison for their role in a large oxycodone trafficking scheme.
Pharmacists Mohamed Hassan was sentenced to 18 years in prison, while Yousef Ennab was sentenced to 30 months in prison, for dispensing and distributing oxycodone from various pharmacies across Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, according to Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Also sentenced was co-defendant Anthony Mathis, a street-level narcotics dealer from New Windsor, N.Y., to 36 months’ imprisonment.
Federal prosecutors said the case dismantled a large-scale criminal network responsible for flooding New York City streets with highly addictive opioid pills. The scheme resulted in the illegal distribution of more than 1.6 million oxycodone pills, with an estimated street value exceeding $48 million.
According to court filings and trial evidence, Hassan and Ennab were licensed pharmacists who used fraudulent prescriptions to obtain oxycodone for resale. Hassan owned stakes in roughly 20 pharmacies across Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, including locations operating under names such as Nile RX, Prospect Care, Downtown RX and Forest Care. Ennab served as the supervising pharmacist at Forest Care in Staten Island.
The operation relied on prescriptions for 30-day supplies of 30mg of oxycodone that were issued by a Brooklyn medical practice operating as a pill mill. Many of the prescriptions were written for patients the doctor had never examined and in some cases used stolen identities. A 30mg oxycodone pill is the strongest available and are typically reserved for patients with severe medical conditions, according to prosecutors.
These prescriptions were filled at pharmacies controlled by Hassan, including the location where Ennab worked. Hassan and Ennab coordinated with street-level dealers to distribute the pills in exchange for cash. Insurance companies were also billed for prescriptions that had no legitimate medical purpose.
Mathis played a central role in recruiting dozens of individuals to act as nominal patients and used stolen identities to obtain prescriptions without victims’ knowledge. Another co-defendant picked up prescriptions under those false identities.
Seven additional defendants previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme, including a doctor, her office receptionist and multiple pharmacists. Three of those defendants are still awaiting sentencing. Two street-level dealers were previously sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Mathis and Ennab were ordered to forfeit $535,989.12 and $13,472.76, respectively. Hassan will be required to forfeit additional funds, with the amount to be determined at a later date.
“The opioid epidemic has caused incalculable harm in our communities and this criminal ring fueled the proliferation of pills on the street,” Nocella said in a statement. "The corrupt pharmacists who filled illegitimate oxycodone prescriptions to supply drug dealers, acted out of pure greed and complete disregard for the harm they were causing."
