NEW YORK — Major Heroin Supply Chain from New York City to Upstate Counties, Long Island Dismantled: Five Arrested, $5 Million in Heroin, $115,000 Cash and Two Guns Seized:
The NYPD, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York, announced the arrest of five members of a heroin trafficking network and the seizure of 12 kilograms of heroin (over 26 lbs.) worth at least $5 million, plus $115,000 in cash, two guns and drug paraphernalia.
The investigation began in October 2014, following a heroin overdose in Sullivan County, NY and ultimately led to the identification of a wholesale drug organization based in the Bronx and the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. The drug group supplied local dealers in New York City and Upstate New York counties, including Westchester, Orange, Sullivan and Albany, as well as Long Island.
The arrests and seizures, which occurred yesterday, were the result of a collaborative effort by the DEA’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force (NY OCDESF), Group Z-41, with leadership from the New York State Police, working in partnership with the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Heroin Interdiction Team (HIT) and Investigators Unit, the New York State Police, the New York City Police Department and HSI New York and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office. Also assisting in the investigation were the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, the Narcotics Unit of the Nassau County Police Department and the DEA’s Long Island District Office. NY OCDESF, Group Z-41, was created specifically to fight the growing heroin epidemic in New York State.
Orlando Rosario-Concepcion is accused of heading the Bronx and Washington Heights-based drug trafficking organization that supplied local dealers in New York City, upstate counties and Long Island. The five arrests occurred at approximately 11:15 a.m. yesterday at a heroin packaging mill, 238 West 238th St., Apt. 25, in the Bronx, which was fully operational at the time and was being overseen by Rosario-Concepcion. Also present was Rodolofo Abreu-Crisotomo, Jonathan Almonte, Jean Carlos Rosario-Ortiz and Deckson Holguin-Rosario.
Criminal complaints filed by the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office charge the defendants with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and Criminally Using Drug Paraphernalia in the Second Degree. Arraignments are expected to take place this afternoon in Manhattan Criminal Court.
At the outset of the investigation, members of the NY OCDESF, Group Z-41, and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office pursued leads connected to the overdose death. Sullivan County has faced a stark reality for over 24 months, as have communities across much of the state. Heroin overdoses have been on the rise, with burglaries and related crimes becoming the common scourge of small rural hamlets and villages. Rather than put a band aid on the heroin problem by making a few quick arrests in Sullivan County, Sheriff Michael Schiff decided to help tackle the problem at its source, which was the Bronx and Washington Heights.
Working together, NY OCDESF, Group Z-41, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Heroin Interdiction Unit (HIT) and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office tracked the heroin supply chain from distributors of glassine bags of heroin upstate to the group in the Bronx and Washington Heights headed by Rosario-Concepcion, which was holding $5 million in heroin yesterday at the time of the drug raids.
Agents and investigators identified active heroin mill locations, including the mill at 238 West 238th St., Apt. 25 in the Bronx, which churned out tens of thousands of individual dose glassine envelopes at a time. The location of the mill is just off Van Cortlandt Park, 13 blocks south of the sight of the record-breaking 70 kilogram heroin seizure on May 12.
The investigation also led agents and investigators to multiple stash locations controlled by the organization, including the residence of Abreu-Cristomo at 20 Laurel Hill Terrace, Apt. 3K, in Manhattan.
