nothin “White Boy Chris” Sings, Gets 2 Years | New Haven Independent

White Boy Chris” Sings, Gets 2 Years

A judge sentenced a mastermind behind a multimillion-dollar ring that once dominated New Haven’s crack trade to 24 months in prison, after he helped the state lock up his underlings for more than a decade.

Christopher White Boy Chris” Morley received the two-year sentence Friday morning from Judge Ellen Bree Burns at the federal courthouse on Church Street.

The sentence was one-sixth as long as that given to one man who worked under him, one-seventh as long as the sentence given to another. Those men did not cooperate with the government.

Morley pleaded guilty and cooperated with authorities after he was arrested in May 2012 as part of Operation Bloodline,” the largest drug sweep in Connecticut history. Friday he declared a desire to go into business buying distressed New Haven properties.

Burns had the option to put Morley in prison for up to 14 years. Prosecutors, who worked with Morley in previous trials against his former associated, agreed to a defense request for a shorter sentence.

From the bench, Burns never mentioned Morley’s cooperation. Instead she said that he chose the smaller sentence because the guidelines were too harsh” and, it appears to me that you are on a different track now,” she said. I don’t want to throw your life way.”

Dressed in a blue button-down shirt and khaki pants, Morley presented the picture of a model citizen. That’s what he, his supporters, and his attorney, Kelly Barrett, told Burns he has been striving to be since his 2012 arrest.

He has maintained a legal, full-time job, he said. He claimed he is working toward a business degree, paid up his child support and kicked his addiction to pain pills. When he finishes his degree he wants to go into business rehabilitating homes damaged by fire, he said.

I strongly apologize for my actions leading up to my arrest,” he said. I’ve used this part of my life to change my life. I want to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem. I want to finish my college degree and start a legal business.”

With 100 percent clean drug tests and compliant behavior backing him up, Burns said, she was satisfied that Morley is on the straight and narrow,. She warned him that one slip-up and he will be back in front of her or another judge, and returning to prison for a long time.

She sentenced him to serve two years in prison and two years of supervised release. He will spend the first six months of his supervised release on house arrest. He also must complete 500 hours of community service, and continue to be monitored for drug use.

Paul Bass Photo

In Operation Bloodline,” federal, state and local agents took down a sprawling group that they said dominated New Haven’s crack trade. The 18-month investigation included 22 tapped phones. The resultant busts centered on the Tre Bloods gang, based in the Dwight-Kensington neighborhood and was allegedly responsible for deadly violence in that area.

Morley pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, avoiding a trial. He became the government’s star witness in cases against two men who worked for him selling drugs, Tylon Bucky” Vaughn and Michael Thompson, who claimed that they were much further down the food chain in the drug operations. Vaughn, who unlike Morley fought the charges rather than cooperate with the government, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Thompson was sentenced to 14 years.

Early in trials of Vaughn and Thompson, Morley testified of his involvement in moving kilos of cocaine from New York City, FedEx-ing pounds of marijuana from California, and shipping oxycodone pills hidden in stuffed animals from Florida didn’t live in Dwight-Kensington. His home, which was seized by the feds, was on a quiet street in Upper Westville, a block from former Mayor John DeStefano’s house.

Read more details about Morley’s involvement in the drug ring and the subsequent trials here, here and here.

Past Independent stories on Operation Bloodline:
Jurors Fed Up With Operation Bloodline” Case
Judge, 90: I Was Not Asleep”
Defense: Let Jury Know Why Star Witnesses Talk
Bloodline” Dealer Found Guilty
On The Stand, Freeman Is No White Boy Chris”
6 Rental Cars + 1 Stash House = Big Drug Dealer?
TXT From B.O. To Big Dog: 14s 36h”
Bloodline Jurors Learn The Drug-Dealing ABCs
YouTube, Facebook Helped Bust The Bloods
Biggs’ Jailhouse Plea: Don’t Believe The Rap
Wiley Don Raps Feds From Prison
Bloodline” Cop Wiretapped Sister’s Boyfriends
Guilty Verdict In Bloodline” Trial
Bloodline Defense Lawyers: That’s All You’ve Got?
Drug Trade’s Great White Hope” Grilled
Bloodline” Trail Leads To White Boy Chris
Judge To Feds: Fix Your 2nd Class” Mess
Top” Blood, Rapper’s Pal, Pleads Not Guilty
Feds Indict 105 In Tre Bloods Probe
Operation Bloodline” Nets Alleged 61 Tre Bloods

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