Acting U.S. Attorney John J. Durham speaks during a news conference after former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for fraud and identity theft, Friday, April 25, 2025, in Central Islip, N.Y. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Jason Liriano, the founder and leader of the Route Boys gang, was sentenced by United States District Judge Gary R. Brown to 22 years imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and use of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking activity. Liriano pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2023.
Liriano is the last of 10 defendants affiliated with the Route Boys gang to be sentenced in connection with charges in a third superseding indictment involving drug distribution, use of firearms, pharmacy burglaries and ATM thefts. The Route Boys burglarized pharmacies and convenience stores in Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester and Rockland Counties, as well as in New Jersey and Connecticut from 2020 through June 2022, when they were arrested.
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York John J. Durham and FBI New York Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia announced the sentences.
“For two years, the Route Boys, led by Liriano, engaged in a brazen crime spree targeting local businesses throughout the Tri-State area, stealing money and pharmaceuticals to fuel their illegal drug business, which they protected with threats of violence and illegal firearms,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “These significant jail sentences make our communities safer and are the result of my Office’s collaboration with our law enforcement partners, who are dedicated to the shared mission of protecting local businesses from criminals and holding accountable those who seek to flood our communities with dangerous drugs.”
Mr. Durham thanked the New York City Police Department, Nassau County Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department, Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Kings County District Attorney’s Office, Queens County District Attorney’s Office, Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance with the investigation.
“Jason Liriano, the leader of the Route Boys gang, orchestrated a three-year burglary spree targeting various businesses across the city to steal cash and controlled substances for illicit resale,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Liriano’s leadership tormented these local establishments and relied on firearms to further intimidate the gang’s victims into compliance. With the assistance of our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners, the FBI maintains its steadfast resolve to dismantle any unlawful system that finances the gang presence in our communities.”
As set forth in the third superseding indictment, the government’s sentencing memorandum and other court filings, the Route Boys began committing burglaries in late 2020, breaking into convenience stores, check-cashing businesses, laundromats and restaurants, stealing primarily cash and tobacco products. In addition, the gang stole free-standing ATMs, forcing them open and stealing the cash from inside the machines, netting tens of thousands of dollars.
They then began targeting small “mom-and-pop” pharmacies throughout the Tri-State area by smashing through windows and stealing controlled substances such as oxycodone and promethazine-codeine cough syrup.
Liriano possessed a 9mm handgun in furtherance of the drug trafficking operation. They sold the stolen pharmaceuticals on social media immediately after a night of burglaries.
The government’s conservative estimate is that the Route Boys committed at least 100 burglaries in the Tri-State area between approximately November 2020 and the summer of 2022. The Route Boys’ crime spree continued after their arrests and incarceration.
Some members engaged in witness tampering and possessed illegal cell phones and controlled substances like oxycodone and marijuana while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn and on Rikers Island, and many brazenly posted on social media using the contraband phones, including a photo posted by Liriano declaring “F**k the Feds.”
On numerous occasions, including after he pleaded guilty in federal court, Liriano possessed homemade weapons and drugs inside the MDC and stabbed a fellow inmate with a long shank when the inmate was working as an orderly delivering his breakfast.
Previously, nine other Route Boys members were convicted and sentenced to federal prison, including Carlos Acevedo to 126 months in prison; Ramon Collado to 132 months in prison; Naresh Deonarrain to 180 months in prison; Devin Lopez-Dominguez to 60 months in prison; Charlie Maisonet to 96 months in prison; Cavier Nedrick to 120 months in prison; Eric Nunez to 144 months in prison; Alberto Santiago to 180 months in prison; and Jeffrey Vargas to 156 months in prison.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Samantha Alessi and Andrew P. Wenzel are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Dejah Turlah.
