ALBANY — A man accused of playing a central role in a Schenectady-based drug ring was sentenced to 15 years in an unrelated weapon possession case Monday in federal district court.

Oscar Mora, 30, of Plank Road, Waterford, is also scheduled to be in Schenectady County Court today, where he could plead guilty to crimes related to the drug ring. In that case he may get as little as five more years behind bars, according to his attorney, Brian Mercy.

Mora, who has an extensive criminal history, pleaded guilty last fall in the federal gun case, a plea that included a cooperation component. Had he lived up to the bargain, Mercy said, he would have asked for as little as seven years.

However, prosecutors alleged Mora broke that agreement. He helped on some cases, but all the while Mora allegedly ran the drug operation.

Prosecutors now speculate that Mora targeted competitors, using prosecutors to clear the way for his own operation.

In comments to federal Judge Thomas McAvoy, Mercy conceded that Mora broke the plea deal, but the case boiled down to a gun found in Mora’s home.

“At the end of the day, Oscar Mora illegally possessed a firearm at his residence, locked in a strongbox,” Mercy said. “No one said he was brandishing the weapon. He wasn’t carrying it with him.”

Mercy also repeated assertions that the prosecution was merely speculating about Mora’s goals.

The gun case grew out of a drug arrest last year in Schenectady. Mora gave police consent to search his Waterford home, where they found the weapon.

In September, Mora struck the deal with prosecutors to let him out of jail pending sentencing so he could help them take out others.

It was during that release that authorities allege he ran the drug operation with co-defendant Kerry Kirkem. They, along with 22 others, were indicted last month on a variety of charges growing out of the operation.

Two of them have already taken plea deals. Charges remain pending against the others, including Lisa Kaczmarek, wife of former Schenectady police chief Greg Kaczmarek.

FEDS WANT MAX

McAvoy reminded Mercy that federal sentencing guidelines in Mora’s case call for a minimum of 15 years, and up to eight months more. Mercy responded there were ways around that, which would require application from the prosecution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Capezza indicated to the court that they would do no such thing, asking for the maximum allowed.

McAvoy also said he would not take into account the pending drug ring charges.

Mora expressed his regret. “I’m sorry I broke the law,” he said.

Prosecutors outlined their dismay last week in court filings regarding the drug ring. At one point, Mora even openly talked about severely injuring a drug “mule,” or worse, after she lost a large shipment of drugs. It was Kirkem who talked him out of it, prosecutors wrote, citing wiretap transcripts in that case.

Prosecutors even took the unusual step of unsealing the plea agreement and exposing the cooperation he did give.

Mercy noted that Mora has been receiving threats since the deal was made public. Mora was being held at the Albany County Jail.

He is to appear in Schenectady County Court today with attorney James Tyner, where he could enter a guilty plea to charges related to the drug ring. Tyner could not be reached for comment Monday.

He is also to appear with Mercy to be sentenced on the original drug charge related to the weapon plea. He is expected to get nine years to be served concurrently with the federal sentence, Mercy said.

The deal in the latest drug case, according to Mercy, would be as little as five extra years, meaning a total of 20 years for everything.

However, it was unclear if Schenectady County Court Judge Karen Drago had signed off on the deal.

Last week, Drago rejected a proposed deal involving drug mule suspect Misty Gallo, the woman Mora allegedly wanted to harm for losing the drug shipment.

Drago refused to go along with the negotiated four-year deal in Gallo’s case, instead saying she would accept nothing less than 51⁄2 years. Gallo is to return to court later this week.