President Joe Biden’s clemency list of the nearly 2,500 people convicted of drug offenses includes several local criminals, including a drug trafficker who had a teenager make fentanyl deliveries.

The former president’s commutation list also features a longtime Boston crack cocaine trafficker who regularly sold drugs near Franklin Park.

Biden in his final days in office commuted the sentences of 2,490 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, nullifying prison terms that he deemed too harsh.

That clemency list includes Boston man Gerald Smith, also known as “G-Man,” 48 (federal prison #95500-038). The career criminal was sentenced in 2015 to 16 years in federal prison for drug trafficking and firearm charges.

Smith regularly sold crack cocaine in the Esmond Street neighborhood of Boston, an area plagued by drug, gun, and gang violence. During their investigation, federal agents used a cooperating witness and an undercover police officer to purchase crack cocaine from Smith more than a dozen times.

When federal agents executed a search warrant at an apartment in Revere used by Smith, they seized nearly a kilogram of cooked crack cocaine ready for street-level sale and a loaded firearm.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of cocaine base, possession with intent to distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine base, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. It was Smith’s fourth drug trafficking conviction, and he was previously twice sentenced to state prison for drug trafficking.

Biden’s clemency list also included Daniel Ruiz, aka “P-Nut,” 36, of Agawam in western Massachusetts (federal prison #91007-038). Ruiz was sentenced in 2023 to nearly 12 years in prison after his conviction for conspiracy to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base.

According to court records, Ruiz was arrested in March of 2022 — shortly after federal agents executed search warrants at the Highlander Motel in Rutland, Vermont.

Ruiz fled out a bathroom window of the motel, and he was quickly apprehended. Inside of his motel room, the feds found about 37 grams of cocaine base, 168 bags of fentanyl, more than $5,000 in cash, and a Glock 9mm handgun.

Ruiz was a supervisor and manager of a drug trafficking operation that operated out of the Highlander Motel. He was busted for trafficking at least 200 grams of cocaine and 80 grams of fentanyl, with Ruiz making up to $1,000 a day in profits from the sale of controlled substances.

Ruiz managed and supervised the drug trafficking activities of a 17-year-old, who Ruiz recruited into the group. Ruiz had the teen make deliveries of cocaine base and fentanyl to purchasing customers, paying the juvenile in both cash and marijuana.

Ruiz had a prior federal conviction in Massachusetts for conspiracy to distribute and distribution of cocaine base, as well as a conviction in Massachusetts state court for possession with intent to distribute heroin.

Also on Biden’s clemency list is 33-year-old Boston man Herbert Small (federal prison #99102-038). He was sentenced last year for unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition and for distributing cocaine.

In August of 2023, Small sold 20 grams of cocaine and two firearms – a .22 caliber revolver and a .40 caliber pistol with a magazine containing 11 rounds of ammunition – to a cooperating witness in Dorchester.

Then two months later, Small sold about 65 grams of crack cocaine to the same cooperating witness.

Small was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition due to a previous federal drug conviction in 2017.

He pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.

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The recent round of clemency gives Biden the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued.

Biden said he is seeking to undo “disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice.”

“Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” Biden said in a statement. “This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars.”

Herald wire services were used in this report.

Outgoing President Joe Biden’s recent clemency actions include commuting the sentences of several local people convicted of federal drug sentences. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)