16 people have been charged with trafficking fentanyl, heroin and cocaine to the metropolitan area in a scheme that peddled drugs on the streets as well as delivering them to buyers on demand.
District Attorney Clark said, “Deadly Fentanyl coupled with recreational cocaine sales shows that this group was as versatile as it was vicious. They allegedly drove narcotics up the eastern seaboard from Florida, bringing the drugs and their attendant misery to the Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester County and New Jersey. With our law enforcement partners, we will continue to pursue and prosecute those doing harm to our communities.”
DEA Special Agent in Charge Hunt stated, “This transnational drug trafficking crew made the Bronx an epicenter of fentanyl distribution. Through coordinated enforcement on federal, state and local law enforcement levels, traffickers responsible for smuggling heroin, cocaine and six million fatal doses of fentanyl into our city have been arrested.”
“This investigation helped shut down a multi-state narcotics operation that dealt in cocaine, heroin and deadly fentanyl,” said Police Commissioner James O’Neill. If these defendants thought they could hide behind a call-in drug delivery service they underestimated the reach of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and the DEA Strike Force.”
Homeland Security Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge Angel M. Melendez said, “These individuals are alleged to have trafficked drugs up the eastern shore line and into our New York communities. As long as there is supply and demand, these drug pushers will continue to flood our streets with these highly addictive drugs. It is our resolve to rid our street from these individuals who care more about making money than the lives they ruin.”
New York State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II said, “Great police work and our invaluable partnerships at the federal, state and local level were key in bringing down this illegal drug trafficking organization. After six months of dedicated work more than a dozen people were arrested for importing deadly drugs into our communities and New Jersey. State Police and our partners will continue to work together to rid our communities of these dangerous substances, and the violence that comes with them.”
District Attorney Clark said that four of the defendants are charged with Operating as a Major Trafficker. If convicted, they face up to life in prison. The other defendants are variously charged with first, second and third-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, first, second and third-degree Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance, second and third-degree Money Laundering, second and fourth-degree Conspiracy.
Eleven of the defendants were arrested in a takedown on November 15, 2017 and eight were arraigned before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary. Some are due back in court on November 29, 2017 and others on December 13, 2017. Three defendants are awaiting extradition from Florida and New Jersey.
According to the six-month wiretap investigation by the Bronx DA’s Special Investigations Bureau and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Strike Force, the narcotics were imported by multiple defendants from Florida and elsewhere to distribute in the Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester and New Jersey.
Several of the defendants resided and allegedly sold drugs within the confines of the 46th Precinct along Creston Avenue.
Two defendants, Juan Martinez and Jonathan Martinez, both of the Bronx, allegedly ran an on-call cocaine delivery service to customers throughout New York City, including to professionals in advertising and real estate. During the investigation, authorities seized a total of 12 kilograms of Fentanyl, multiple kilograms of heroin and cocaine and various quantities of crack cocaine. Over $175,000 in cash — narcotics proceeds — and two vehicles were seized.
On November 7, 2017, ten kilograms of fentanyl and two kilograms of heroin were seized during an alleged drug transaction between defendant Jonas Turbi Molina and two individuals from Phoenix, Arizona. During the drug seizure, a subject jumped out of a second-story window of his Manhattan hotel room carrying over $30,000 in cash.
The case was prosecutedby Assistant District AttorneysDanielColladoand Jordan Hummel of the Special Investigations Bureau, under the supervision of Tarek A. Rahman, Chief of the Special Investigations Bureau, under the overall supervision of Stuart Levy, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division and Jean Walsh, Chief of the Investigations Division.
District Attorney Clark thanked Chief Detective Investigator Frank Chiara, Deputy Chief Carlton Starling, SDI Therone Eugene, DI Nicholas Ranieri and Lt. Rocco Galasso of the DA’s Detective Investigators, as well as the NYPD DA Squad.
District Attorney Clark thanked the members of Group Z 51 of the DEA New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force. The Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers of the DEA, the New York City Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the New York State Police, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, New York National Guard, the Clarkstown Police Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Port Washington Police Department and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The investigation was also assisted by the DEA New England Division, DEA Miami Field Division, Miami Dade Police Department, New Jersey State Police, NYPD 49 Precinct, Port Authority Police Department K-9, DEA PAPD K-9, DEA Intelligence Division and DEA Special Operations Department.
