As tens of thousands of Americans die from opioid overdoses each year, the U.S. Department of Justice is cracking down on the middlemen who sell them illegally.

Late Thursday, in what it is calling the largest ever criminal enforcement action targeting pharmaceutical opioid distributors, the DOJ charged five distributor executives and five sales representatives and brokers with unlawfully selling almost 70 million opioid pills and other prescription drugs.

The Justice Department alleges they sold the drugs to so-called pill-mill pharmacies that cater to addicts at prices above market rate knowing they would be resold on the black market. The drugs included the addictive painkillers oxycodone, hydrocodone and hydromorphone as well as companion prescription drugs known to enhance their high, including alprazolam, carisoprodol and promethazine with codeine syrup.

The department estimates the black-market value of the drugs at $1.3 billion.

“Our message is clear. We will not hesitate in our pursuit of those involved in dumping addictive pharmaceutical drugs onto the streets,” DOJ Criminal Division Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri said in a YouTube announcement. 

The pill-mill pharmacy operators were based in the Houston area, but the distributors were located outside of Texas. The DOJ alleges the distributors worked to circumvent Drug Enforcement Agency oversight by charging high prices for small quantities of the drugs. Nine of the individuals charged have pled guilty.

“They knowingly sold bulk narcotics to drug traffickers and to pharmacies they knew were selling to drug traffickers,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said. “No one is above the law. If you contribute to the opioid epidemic, if you profit from the devastation of communities, we will hold you accountable.”

More than 81,000 people died from opioid overdose deaths in the United States in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control.