A Philadelphia man was sentenced to five years in federal prison for his role in a years-long prescription opioid distribution conspiracy operating in South Philadelphia, the Justice Department announced.
Michael Emma, 66, received a 60-month sentence in the District of New Jersey after pleading guilty in June 2025 to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, Emma was a member of the so-called “10th and O Crew,” a South Philadelphia drug operation. Between July 2019 and July 2024, Emma and his co-conspirators sold prescription oxycodone pills in shifts out of a 24-hour restaurant, court documents said. Emma obtained the pills from doctors’ offices in the area before distributing them with other members of the crew, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement built the case in part through controlled drug purchases. Investigators bought pills from one of Emma’s co-conspirators, and a surveillance team later observed that co-conspirator counting the proceeds with Emma, according to court documents.
Two other members of the 10th and O Crew — identified as leaders of the operation — were also convicted and sentenced. Michael Procopio received six years in prison, and Frank Procopio was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, prosecutors said. Both were convicted of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Trial Attorneys Paul J. Koob and Nicholas K. Peone of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
The Justice Department also noted that its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has charged more than 6,200 defendants accused of collectively billing federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007.
In addition, the department referenced the newly established National Fraud Enforcement Division, announced April 7, which it said is focused on investigating and prosecuting fraud against the American people. The department said the effort supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a government-wide initiative chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance targeting fraud, waste and abuse in federal benefit programs.
Oxycodone is a Schedule II controlled substance and one of the prescription painkillers widely linked to the nation’s opioid epidemic.
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