D’andre Burrus, aka Dopeman, 30, of Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 216 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release for offences related to his participation in a violent Waterbury street gang.
Today’s announcement was made by Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut; Maureen T. Platt, State’s Attorney for the Waterbury Judicial District; Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge, ATF Boston Field Division; and Waterbury Police Chief Fernando C. Spagnolo.
According to court documents and statements made in court, to address drug trafficking and related violence in Waterbury, the FBI, ATF, and Waterbury Police have been investigating multiple Waterbury-based groups, including the 960 gang.
On September 14, 2021, a federal grand jury in Hartford returned a 36-count indictment charging Burrus and 15 other 960 gang members with racketeering, narcotics trafficking, firearm possession, murder, attempted murder and assault, and obstruction of justice offences.
On March 4, 2024, Burrus pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and admitted that he trafficked heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine in furtherance of the 960 enterprise. He also admitted that he conspired to murder members of a rival gang in retaliation for the murder of a fellow 960 member.
On October 11, 2018, 960 members Gabriel Pulliam and Julian Scott shot into a crowd of people, killing an innocent bystander, 30-year-old Fransua Guzman, and paralyzing a second victim. Burrus was in one of two cars 960 members drove to the scene of the shooting. Guzman was the mother of four children.
Burrus has been detained since his arrest on February 19, 2019.
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