YOUNGSTOWN Drug dealer gets 10 years in prison

The defendant will cooperate with authorities in prosecuting cases against other drug-ring suspects.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The man authorities say was the leader of a cocaine ring in the Poland and Struthers area will spend the next 10 years in prison.
Christopher Gentile, 30, of Clingan Road, Poland, was sentenced Wednesday by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He had pleaded guilty in August to multiple felony drug violations.
Case agents Robert Patton and Jeff Allen of the Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force said Gentile's sentencing will make a huge dent in drug activity in the suburban areas.
Dennis Sarisky, assistant prosecutor, said Gentile was part of a large operation that provided drugs to other dealers and users in the suburbs.
"He was the ringleader," Patton said, noting that Gentile manufactured the drugs that were sold by the others.
A county grand jury indicted 20 people in October on charges that include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, cocaine trafficking and illegal manufacture of drugs.
Gentile was affiliated with those suspects but was not included in the indictment because he agreed to testify against the others. In exchange for his cooperation against the other suspects, Gentile was not charged with racketeering and received a recommendation for a 10-year sentence.
He could have gotten more than 17 years in prison.
Gentile's father, Larry Gentile of Clingan Road, is among those still facing charges.
What he did
Allen said Christopher Gentile would typically receive a shipment of cocaine from a supplier and "cut" it by adding baking powder or other white, powdery substances to double or triple its original weight. He then compressed the material and sold it.
Defense attorney Scott Cochran said Gentile turned to selling drugs to support his own growing addiction to them.
"His addiction cost him everything he owned," Cochran said.
He said Gentile once operated a successful trucking business and had completed nearly four years of college toward an engineering degree. All that, Cochran said, was while Gentile was hooked on marijuana.
But the addiction soon turned to harder drugs, leading Gentile into cocaine, OxyContin and heroin use, Cochran said.
Gentile said he accepts responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family, the community and his 3-year-old daughter, "Who will be without my presence because of the mistakes I made."
bjackson@vindy.com