One of the three men behind a violent, dangerous drug dealing conspiracy in the Orleans County region was sentenced in U.S. District Court

BURLINGTON – One of the three men behind a violent, dangerous drug dealing conspiracy in the Orleans County region was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Tuesday to almost 13½ years in federal prison. Dante “Pops” Flowers Sr., 48, was one of three Hartford, Conn. men who headed to the rural Northeast Kingdom in 2020 to set up one of the most vicious and prolific drug distribution conspiracies of fentanyl and crack cocaine in recent years in Vermont. Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss also ordered Flowers to pay $313,565 in restitution to James Castrogiovanni of Derby after a savage beating at his home left him paralyzed from the neck down, Reiss said.