PITTSFIELD -- A New York City man who local police call the "kingpin" of a North County crack-cocaine ring is scheduled to go to trial in Berkshire Superior Court in May on two felony drug-related charges. The possibility of a plea deal has been discussed.
On Wednesday, 42-year-old Clifton Sumlin, of the Bronx, appeared with his attorney, Michelle Mechta, for a pretrial hearing before Judge Daniel A. Ford.
Sumlin has been held at the Berkshire County Jail House of Correction on $1 million surety bail since his arrest by the North Adams Police on a warrant in August on single counts of cocaine distribution and a drug violation within a school zone.
Sumlin allegedly sold crack-cocaine to a police informant in the parking lot of a North Adams supermarket in September 2007.
According to the Berkshire County Drug Task Force, Sumlin ran a crack-cocaine distribution network from 2007 to 2009 with ties to a larger network in the Bronx. He allegedly brought drug dealers from New York and set them up in business in North Adams.
Sumlin has a history of drug convictions and uses numerous aliases, police said.
In a previous court appearance, Sumlin was described by a defense attorney not as a drug kingpin, but rather as an unemployed man living with his mother.
On Wednesday, Assistant Berkshire District Attorney Richard M. Locke told the court he made a plea offer to Mechta before court. Mechta said she would
Locke said if Sumlin accepts the deal, they hope to set a plea date within a few weeks.
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