Over 4 Million In Cash and Three Kilograms of Heroin Seized In The Bronx

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The NYPD announced today the arrest of three members of a narcotics trafficking group and the seizure of over $4.1 million and three kilograms of heroin (over six pounds) from a storage unit in the Bronx and a U-Haul truck.

News Release: A criminal complaint filed by the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office charges Bronx-based ringleader Jorge Pizarro and co-defendants NELSON DEJESUS and MIGUEL ANGELES with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First and Third Degrees. The defendants were arrested the night of Saturday, March 18, 2017, in the vicinity of a Secure Self Storage, located at 1037 Zerega Avenue in the Bronx. Yesterday agents and officers conducted additional court authorized searches of a U-Haul and a Dodge Caravan that were seized from the location at the time of the defendants’ arrests.

At the outset of the investigation, members of HIS’s El Dorado Group 3 learned that PIZARRO allegedly oversaw an interstate narcotics trafficking operation that transported large quantities of heroin from Texas for sale in New York City and Lawrence, Mass. Shipments of narcotics were concealed inside furniture that PIZARRO stored inside Secure Self Storage, unit #2064, which was leased in his name. Members of HSI and DETF developed further intelligence that PIZARRO also transported large quantities of cash to pay for the narcotics from New York City back to Texas inside the same wooden furniture.

Members of DETF Group T-31 established surveillance targeting storage unit #2064 and PIZARRO. Agents and officers learned that PIZARRO and DEJESUS moved furniture in and out of the storage unit on a near-monthly basis. PIZARRO also travelled between New York City and Lawrence, Mass.

On Saturday, March 18, 2017, agents and officers with DETF and HSI observed PIZARRO and DEJESUS moving multiple pieces of furniture into and out of the unit. At approximately 12:30 a.m., PIZARRO moved several pieces of furniture, including two wooden nightstands, into the storage unit. The Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor obtained a court authorized search warrant for the location.

That night at approximately 9:25 p.m., PIZARRO, DEJESUS and ANGELES were observed returning to the Secure Self Storage in two vehicles, a black Dodge Caravan driven by PIZARRO and a large U-Haul truck. The three defendants went in and out of the storage unit, loading multiple pieces of furniture into the U-Haul truck. Members of DETF Group T-31 approached the storage unit with a New York State Police K9 that alerted positively to the presence of narcotics.

Agents and officers executed the search warrant on storage unit #2064 and recovered three kilograms of heroin (over six pounds) from one nightstand and approximately $750,000 cash from a second wooden nightstand. Both nightstands were outfitted with hidden compartments. Agents and officers seized the Dodge Caravan and the U-Haul truck.

Yesterday, agents and officers executed additional search warrants that were obtained by the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office for the vehicles. Inside the U-Haul truck, agents and officers found three pieces of wooden furniture that contained approximately $3.4 million dollars in cash wrapped in dozens of packages. The pieces of furniture were outfitted with secret compartments. The Dodge Caravan contained a large empty compartment in the floor. A bottle of fox urine, intended to be used to disguise the smell of narcotics, was recovered from the glove compartment. Agents and officers learned that the U-Haul had been rented in Lawrence, Mass. by an unapprehended individual who is also the owner of record for the Dodge Caravan.

All three defendants were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court and held on bail set in the following amounts: $750,000 for PIZARRO, $300,000 for DEJESUS and $100,000 for ANGELES.

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