NEW YORK: Acting Richmond County District Attorney Daniel L. Master, Jr. and NYPD Commissioner William J. Bratton today announced the arrests and indictments of 10 individuals who sold cocaine and heroin to customers in and around the Stapleton community. Eight of the arrested individuals have been indicted on charges including conspiracy and two Class A-I felonies – Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 1st and 2nd degrees. An 11th defendant is actively being sought by the NYPD.
“With Staten Island in the throes of a drug epidemic, these individuals, four of whom are violent ex-convicts, essentially turned the Stapleton Houses and the surrounding area into an open air drug market and peddled heroin and cocaine to vulnerable abusers,” said DA Daniel L. Master, Jr. “Thanks to months of hard work by my prosecutors and the dedicated detectives of the NYPD, law enforcement has effectively cut off a major drug supplier to this borough and likely saved countless lives.”
“These arrests demonstrate the NYPD’s ongoing commitment to provide a safe environment for the residents of public housing,” said Police Commissioner William J. Bratton. “I want to commend the work of the investigators of Gang Squad Staten Island and the prosecutors of the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office whose work resulted in the arrests of these individuals who allegedly operated in and around the Stapleton Houses and profited from the illegal sale of highly addictive narcotics.”
Two conspiracies outlined in a 98-count indictment unsealed today detail how from on or before February 17, 2015 until on or about July 16, 2015, HECTOR VASQUEZ, LUIS QUILES, LUIS JIMENEZ, TIMOTHY CARTER, JOSEPH WILLIAMS, JOSE DEMATTA, CHINEIDA LOPEZ and THOMAS MBAYE conspired to sell heroin and cocaine in Staten Island.
VASQUEZ, of Manhattan, supplied the drugs to QUILES, who, in turn, supplied said narcotics to JIMENEZ. JIMENEZ would then provide the heroin and cocaine to CARTER, WILLIAMS, DEMATTA, LOPEZ and MBAYE (cocaine only) for distribution to customers, and directed his crew on when and where to make drug drop-offs and when and where to collect and deliver the ill-gotten proceeds. JIMENEZ paid drug profits to QUILES, who then repaid VASQUEZ.
Additionally, QUILES sold heroin to CHRISTOPHER SHERROD, who then sold the drug to a customer. And, ANTHONY JOHNSON sold cocaine to CALVIN GREEN and JIMENEZ.
The 5-month investigation utilized undercover officers as well as physical and electronic surveillance. The targets often spoke in cryptic and coded language about their drug-dealing empire. Intercepted phone calls between the defendants exposed conversations about drug paraphernalia, replenishing their drug supply, and arranging drug sales in neighborhood businesses and parking lots.
The investigation also uncovered that, on at least three occasions, JIMENEZ paid QUILES his split of the drug profits using Western Union wire transfers, and that VASQUEZ, on at least one occasion, deposited his share of the payments into a Bank of America bank account.
Several of the defendants have been incarcerated in New York State for violent crimes:
• QUILES – Assault 1, Reckless Endangerment 1, Att. Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance 3, Criminal Possession of a Weapon 3
• WILLIAMS – Rape 1
• DEMATTA – Att. Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance 3, Robbery 2, Burglary 2, Att. Robbery 2
• GREEN – Murder 2
And, JOHNSON has a prior federal conviction for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and is currently on federal probation until 2017.
