federal judge today sentenced a man portrayed by authorities as one of the biggest methamphetamine dealers in western New York to 17 1/2 years in prison.

In court papers, prosecutors also linked the dealer — 48-year-old Donald Vanelli of LeRoy — to the local Hells Angels chapter, which has been the focus of an ongoing FBI investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Harvey portrayed Vanelli as a major supplier of methamphetamine throughout the region. Vanelli was a key part of a methamphetamine-trafficking network between 2004 and 2010, Harvey contended.

In a plea, Vanelli admitted to a conspiracy to sell between 5 and 15 kilograms of methamphetamine during those years.

Vanelli was a target of an FBI investigation that used wiretaps, surveillance cameras and informants who purchased drugs from him, records show.

According to court records, Vanelli was once “president of the Road Agents Motorcycle Club (RAMC), an outlaw motorcycle gang affiliated with the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, Rochester Charter.”

Defense attorney Lawrence Kasperek argued for a lesser sentence for Vanelli, maintaining that his crimes were not driven by monetary gain but instead by the need to feed his own drug addiction.