Kent Man Convicted of Selling Deadly Combo of Drugs

A Kent man could face up to 24 years in prison after being found guilty by a jury of selling a dangerous combination of heroin and fentanyl tied to a fatal overdose in Southeast.

William E. Mancusi III, 47, was remanded to the Putnam County Correctional Facility following a week-and-a-half-long jury trial in Putnam County Court where he was convicted Jan. 12 of two counts each of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the third degree in connection with a substance containing heroin, fentanyl and xylazine.

“This defendant knowingly pushed deadly drugs into our community,” said Putnam County District Attorney Robert Tendy. “The drug cocktail he was selling had an additional deadly layer to it when you consider it had xylazine, which is unresponsive to Narcan. This was extraordinarily dangerous stuff.”

On Nov. 12, 2021, New York State Police investigators responded to a fatal overdose in the Town of Southeast where an investigation revealed the drugs associated with the fatality had come from Mancusi. Members of the State Police Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team conducted a series of undercover operations in the following days during which Mancusi provided a confidential informant with a heroin, fentanyl and xylazine cocktail.

According to Tendy, Mancusi was heard on audio recordings bragging that the combination was some of the “strongest” stuff that he has had “in over a year” and urged the confidential informant to “be careful” in using the drugs. A chemical analysis conducted by a police forensic scientist demonstrated the drugs sold were a potent combination of heroin, fentanyl and xylazine.

In 2014, Mancusi was convicted by a Putnam jury of the felony Driving While Ability Impaired by Drugs. He also has a prior Vehicular Manslaughter conviction stemming from an incident in 2008 during which he struck and killed a bicyclist in Dutchess County while he was operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs.

“Mr. Mancusi clearly didn’t learn his lessons from his two previous state prison sentences,” Tendy said. “We are grateful that we have removed a career criminal from our community and are grateful to the jury for their service.”

Mancusi is scheduled to be sentenced on March 5.

Rick Pezzullo

Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/