EIGHT MEMBERS OF A TWO MILLION DOLLAR A YEAR WHOLESALE DRUG DISTRIBUTION RING CHARGED WITH TRAFFICKING IN HEROIN AND ECSTASY FOLLOWING YEAR LONG INVESTIGATION

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson today announced the arrests and indictment of eight members of a narcotics wholesale distribution ring that generated nearly $2,000,000 a year in profits by supplying heroin and Ecstasy to drug dealers in the Bronx, Manhattan and New Jersey.

The arrests were the result of a year long joint investigation by the Office of the Bronx District Attorney, the NYPD Bronx Narcotics Major Case Unit, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The grand jury returned a forty six count indictment charging the defendants with one count of Conspiracy in the 2nd degree, a Class B felony offense; two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 1st degree, a Class A-I felony offense; nine counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 2nd degree, a Class A-II felony offense; five counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd degree, a Class B felony offense; twenty six counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd degree, a Class B felony offense; one count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 7th degree, a Class A misdemeanor offense; and two counts of Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the 3rd degree, a Class D felony offense. All of the defendants are facing a maximum sentence of 25 years to life imprisonment if convicted of the most serious Class A felony charges.

It is alleged that the defendants supplied heroin and ecstasy to drug dealers in the Fordham, Tremont, University Heights, and Bronx River sections of the Bronx, as well as to a handful of dealers in Manhattan, Newark, New Jersey and Patterson, New Jersey. The heroin was packaged and sold either in uncut powdered form or in bundles in large quantities. Each bundle contained ten glassine envelopes of heroin. Investigators also uncovered evidence that Ecstasy sold by the group was obtained from sources in Holland and Belgium who used couriers to make the trans-Atlantic deliveries.

Undercover detectives, according to the indictment, purchased narcotics from the defendants on fifteen separate occasions between May 1, 2002 and May 2, 2003. Detectives purchased more than seventy grams of heroin, ten thousand glassine envelopes of heroin, one hundred units of Ecstasy and two firearms. Police also recovered an additional six thousand units of Ecstasy, sixty five hundred glassine envelopes of heroin, more than one and a half kilograms of cocaine and $100,000 in cash, during the course of the investigation. Investigators said the ring used a location on Pelham Parkway to "stash" the illegal drugs.

Evidence was also gathered through the use of court authorized wiretaps in which the defendants’ telephone conversations were monitored. Detectives also recorded several of the undercover "drug buys" on video tape.

Charges have been filed against:

Mr. Johnson thanked the investigators and Assistant District Attorneys whose hard work and dedication developed this case; Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Lieutenant Eugene Black, Sergeant Daniel Ralat and Detectives John Reilly and James Dowling of the NYPD Bronx Narcotics Division Major Case Unit, and Assistant District Attorneys Edward Friedenthal, Erika Marshall and Penny Diamantis of the Bronx DA’s Housing /Major Case Task Force.