A Springfield man was sentenced Friday, March 15, to 20 years in prison for distributing more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of his drug dealing.
According to court documents, Aidriss Saydi, 36, was one of the largest drug dealers in the Northern Virginia area over the past decade. Saydi frequently traveled to other states with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to purchase narcotics that were later shipped to him.
Over the course of the conspiracy, Saydi used dozens of people to receive drug shipments on his behalf. When shipments became more difficult given the quantity of drugs he was distributing, Saydi purchased his own plane to carry drugs to Virginia. In April of 2018, after fear that law enforcement was closing in on him, Saydi ordered a co-conspirator to hide close to a kilogram of cocaine, 30 pounds of marijuana, and a stolen handgun, all of which were later found by law enforcement. When the buried contraband could not be found, Saydi repeatedly beat his co-conspirator with another weapon, fearing that his co-conspirator had stolen them from him. As part of his sentence, Saydi agreed to forfeit $1 million and multiple vehicles.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Grieco and Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney Dougherty Russell prosecuted the case.