Andrew "Papo" Aviles was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to 237 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his role in the September 2012 homicide of Javier Reyes in New London.

Aviles had pleaded guilty in January 2015 to a federal assault offense under the Travel Act.

According to court documents and statements, the homicide stemmed from Oscar "Tato" Valentin's sale of marijuana, cocaine and other narcotics out of the "Green Garages," a series of garage bays on Walker Street in New London.

In 2011, former members of Valentin's drug operation arranged to kill him in a murder-for-hire plot, but were foiled when police, acting on a tip, arrested them.

Valentin then enlisted Nestor Pagan, who in turn hired Jose Rosado Jr., also known as "Gugie," and Aviles to kill Reyes, the brother-in-law of a man involved in the plot.

Reyes, 36, was found stabbed to death and with blunt force trauma to his head on Sept. 12, 2012, outside of his apartment at 187 Huntington St.

Investigators recovered surveillance video footage that showed Aviles and Rosado, carrying a bat, creeping toward Reyes and then running away from him about 15 seconds later.

The investigation revealed that Rosado hit Reyes with the bat, knocking him to the ground. Aviles then stabbed Reyes multiple times.

Aviles had faced 24 to 30 years under federal sentencing guidelines but had asked Judge Vanessa L. Bryant to reduce the sentence based on several factors, including his acceptance of responsibility, his lack of intent to kill Reyes and his cooperation with state and federal authorities.

In January, Aviles had testified at the murder trial of LaShawn Cecil in New London Superior Court, admitting to the jury that he was taking the witness stand to provide information about the Cecil case with the hope of receiving a reduced sentence.

Valentin was sentenced last week to 16 years in prison followed by four years of supervised release.

Rosado, who admitted he beat Reyes with a baseball bat, was sentenced to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in Reyes' death.

Pagan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the New London Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Connecticut State Police's Eastern District Major Crime Squad, the Connecticut Department of Correction, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service and the New London State's Attorney's Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony Kaplan and Sarah Karwan, and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Paul Narducci.