You may not mess with Texas, but apparently its oxycodone supply messes with New England.

In April of last year, a cooperating source — a person who gives law enforcement information in exchange for “consideration” on the person’s own pending drug charges — told a federal investigator that John Campbell, 40, was a distributor of cocaine and oxycodone in his home area of Taunton.

So investigators with the U.S. Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service set up surveillance on Campbell and soon arranged a series of controlled buys first by their cooperating witness and then four by an undercover agent, the affidavit filed with the federal complaint states.

“Yo, I’m back, can I see you tomorrow, looking 4 white and blues,” the undercover agent texted Campbell just before 5 p.m. on Aug. 8, the day before the agent would allegedly purchase 200 oxycodone pills from him. The “white,” which Campbell allegedly responded that he was out of, means cocaine, according to the affidavit, whereas the “blues” were the pills.

Over the four buys, Campbell allegedly sold just shy of 600 oxycodone pills to the undercover agent, which set off a second stage of an investigation that targeted Campbell’s cell phone and would allegedly uncover five more people involved in a multi-state drug running operation, all of whom were charged in federal court in Boston on Wednesday.

John “Jizz” Campbell, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; Kenneth Veiga, 33, of Abington, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; Michael Atwood, 36, of Carver, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; Austin Gonsalves, 36, of Fall River, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; Scott Lambert, 55, of Falmouth, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; and Christan “Bear” Russell, 32, of Tomball, Texas, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

The arrests come as “Massachusetts is faced with an opioid crisis unlike ever before,” as Brian Boyle, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s New England office.

According to state figures, there were 2,357 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths last year, a 2.5% increase over the year before and a shocking 3.5-fold increase over a 20-year span. In March, the most recent month for which figures are available, an estimated 171 Massachusetts residents died from overdoses.

“Massachusetts continues to suffer from the devastating effects of the lethal opioid crisis and overdose deaths are far too common,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy. “Stemming the opioid crisis is one of this office’s highest priorities including stemming the flow of illegally diverted narcotics as alleged in this case from Texas to Massachusetts.”