Crime and Punishment –
JUNE 5, 2018 – An Essington man was sentenced to life in federal prison Tuesday for having a drug rival murdered to edge out competition in the region’s lucrative opioid market. But neither the defendant, Anthony Vetri, nor his victim, Gbolahan “Bo” Olabode, were typical players in a routine drug world drama. Both were self-made men and successful entrepreneurs — Vetri as a licensed electrician and house flipper, Olabode as a Nigerian immigrant who paid his way through Temple University to become a partner in a chain of local pharmacies. Both came from loving, relatively well-off suburban families. But more than a decade after both became embroiled in an upscale pill mill operation run by a corrupt pharmacist, both have now lost their lives to drugs.
