An Atlantic City man known as “Carlito the Don,” was convicted of drug, gun and witness-tampering charges this week.
“My occupation is drug dealership,” Sean Figaro said in text messages presented at his weeklong trial. “I’m a dealer, not a pimp, not law, a street hustler.”
A federal jury deliberated less than three hours before convicting him of five counts, including possession of a firearm in furtherance of heroin distribution, witness tampering and conspiracy to commit witness tampering, which each carries a potential life sentence.
Figaro, now 32, had been living in an Atlantic City hotel room for at least a year when it was raided Jan. 10, 2017, by officers from the Atlantic City Child Exploitation Task Force.
There, they recovered Figaro’s cell phone that contained the damning texts, along with a safe containing a Jennings .22-caliber pistol loaded with five rounds, 119 bags of heroin and various items used to package drugs for distribution, according to the evidence presented against him.
Figaro’s fingerprints were found on the safe and his DNA was detected on the pistol and a cap inside.
He then sent messages to a potential witness calling them a “rat” and “snitch” on Facebook and later trying to convince them not to testify by promising to love and care for the witness.
Figaro is set to be sentenced Oct. 14.
In addition to life in prison, he also faces fines of as much as $1 million on the heroin distribution charge, and as much as $250,000 each on the other four counts.
