The centerpiece in a widespread cocaine ring bust from 2023 in the Florida Keys will likely spend at least a decade in prison, according to a plea deal filed April 15 in the U.S. Southern District Court.
According to the agreement, submitted to judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz, John Strama Jr., 43, agrees to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. In exchange, federal prosecutors will drop other pending charges of using a minor to engage in drug trafficking and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
In September 2024, Strama was one of 27 defendants charged in a Keys- and Miami-based cocaine trafficking ring following a three-year FBI probe, with agents performing sweeping arrests across the Keys on Sept. 5.
Prosecutors alleged Strama coordinated the sale of cocaine recovered at sea by local boat captains, even bringing one of his daughters on trips to search Middle Keys shorelines for “square groupers” – drug bundles washed into the mangroves.
Under the deal, prosecutors will recommend up to a three-level sentencing guideline reduction in his case. His base federal offense level of 32 – tied to conspiring to distribute between 15 and 50 kilograms of cocaine – increases to 34 with his agreed leadership role, with a potential increase to 36 based on final details of the case.
The charge comes with a statutory range of 10 years to life in prison, followed by a supervised release of at least five years. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend roughly 12 to 27 years for a level 34 offense, depending heavily on the defendant’s criminal history.
Strama’s record, the agreement notes, makes him ineligible for offense level reductions. In 2009, Strama pleaded no contest to charges of cocaine possession and dealing in stolen property and was sentenced to probation, according to Monroe County court records.
In addition to prison time, the deal comes with a court-ordered payment of $700,000, representing cocaine trafficking proceeds, by his July 21 sentencing hearing. If he cannot pay, prosecutors will seek forfeiture of his Stirrup Key Boulevard home in Marathon, valued at well over $2 million.
According to court records, the majority of Strama’s 26 co-defendants began accepting plea deals throughout late 2025 and early 2026, with most accepting potential prison terms of one to five years. Many, like Strama, await sentencing in July.
In June 2025, Strama’s most recent case made headlines again as an unsuccessful motion to revoke his $250,000 bond alleged he had violated his release conditions, including continued drug trafficking activity, contact with co-defendants and reported attempts to threaten or intimidate potential witnesses or informants who had begun to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators.
Federal attorneys at the time claimed the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was “intentionally and systematically excluded from the FBI’s multi-year underlying investigation” into the cocaine ring due to concerns of internal leaks regarding the investigation – a claim emphatically disputed by Sheriff Rick Ramsay, who told the Weekly he’d never been contacted with any concerns by any other agency.
