Staff Reports
Niagara Gazette
BUFFALO —
A Niagara Falls man will serve three years on probation for selling cocaine out of a North Tonawanda bar.
Kenneth Marshanke, 25, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
The three years of probation will satisfy Marshanke’s felony conviction for distributing cocaine out of Papa Joe’s, a bar and restaurant located at 2546 Niagara Falls Blvd.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McCabe handled the case for prosecutors after an FBI investigation led authorities to Marshanke’s role in a greater-area cocaine trafficking operation.
In a press release issued Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice, McCabe is quoted as saying that Marshanke sold cocaine to customers while working as a bartender at the establishment.
“The defendant obtained the cocaine from other members of a large-scale cocaine distribution organization in the Northtowns, which was the target of an investigation last year resulting in 23 arrests in July 2009,” the message states.
The investigation into Marshanke and other members of the Northtowns drug-trafficking organization was led by members of the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James Robertson, as well as members of the Niagara County Drug Task Force and Niagara Falls Police Department.
