Ten members of a drug ring operating out of Cobb County are headed to prison on federal, narcotic, firearms and immigration-related charges, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates office announced late Wednesday.

The case began to unfold in February 2012, when law enforcement agents learned that Nemias Cintora-Gonzalez, 30, of Smyrna, planned to rough up a fellow drug dealer who owed him $2,700 for drugs in front of four other people.

While investigating that scheme, law enforcement officials said they witnessed another man, Edgar Cintora-Gonzalez, transferring two large bags from one car to another. Later that night, they executed a search warrant, resulting in the seizure of an assortment of guns, drugs, $11,000 in cash and two bullet-proof vests, among other items.

Ten arrests followed. Eight of the suspects pleaded guilty, and two others were convicted at trial.

Nemias Cintora-Gonzalez received the longest sentence — 29 years, 4 months in prison.

“Multiple agencies working effectively together dismantled a drug trafficking organization and removed their poisonous drugs, dangerous weapons, and counterfeit money from our streets,” Yates said. “Now, these defendants have traded their contraband for a combined 141 years, 4 months in federal prison.”

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A rendering of the columbarium memorial that is estimated to be completed by next summer or fall in the southeast part of Oakland Cemetery, officials said. (Courtesy of Historic Oakland Foundation)

Credit: Historic Oakland Foundation