Authorities in Bronx have taken down a major drug trafficking network, seizing 103 pounds of heroin and fentanyl, prosecutors said.
The drugs allegedly came from Honduras, were smuggled through Mexico into Los Angeles and then sent off Bronx in tractor-trailers.
“Usually what they’ll do is put a coverload in, some kind of fruits or vegetables,” DEA Special Agent Wilbert Plummer said.
The drugs were apparently sold in the Concourse section of the borough.
“This stuff is very dangerous,” Plummer said. “If this thing was to happen to open up and bust out here in this air most of us would have a problem, and it could kill you.”
District Attorney Darcel Clark said investigators recovered $22 million worth of the drugs, and 32 people have been charged.
“My office is aggressively pursuing those in this illegal drug trade and they must be stopped,” Clark said, adding 177 people in Bronx overdosed on a fentanyl and heroin mix in 2015.
District Attorney Clark also announced that her office filed a civil lawsuit today in Bronx Supreme Court suing the defendants for $10.5 million in currency and property, the alleged proceeds of their organization during the 8-month investigation. The defendants are being sued as “criminal defendants” who are criminally liable for a “pre-conviction forfeiture crime.”
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Paul Irace of the Gangs/Major Case Bureau and Christine Scaccia, Chief of the Gangs/Major Case Bureau and Deputy Chief of the Homicide Bureau. District Attorney Clark thanked Tarek Rahman, Chief of the Special Investigations Unit, and Detective Investigators T. J. Eugene and Barry Vaughn, and Chief Frank Chiara of the Bronx District Attorney’s Detective Investigators. District Attorney Clark also thanked Detectives David Robinson and Jeffrey Scalf and Sergeant Leo Nugent of the NYPD Bronx Gang Squad, and Drug Enforcement Administration Group D-24.
The civil action is being litigated by Assistant District Attorneys Cristina Paquette and Jennifer Shaw of the Asset Forfeiture Unit under the supervision of Lisa Waller, Deputy Chief of the Civil Litigation Bureau. An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
Defendants:
Jason Alvarez (aka Jay), 37, Fort Lee, NJ
Viannet Espinal (aka Skid), 39, Bronx, NY
Joel Velazquez (aka Gucci) , 27, Bronx, NY
Ronnie Allegria, 29, Manhattan, NY
Cynthia Alegria, 36, Bronx, NY
Mariano Guzman, 45, Bronx, NY
Adan Bones (aka Emilio Aguillar), 24, Bayonne, NJ
David Arzu, 36, Bronx, NY
Ariel Luna (aka Hannibal), 37, Bronx, NY
Hector Lopez (aka Tito), 46, Bronx, NY
Edgar Alvarez, 48, Buffalo, NY
Adolpho Vargas (aka Doc), 42, Bronx, NY
Hector Taveras (aka Alberto Torbellino), 36, Bronx, NY
Jacob Berkhart (aka Byrd), 37, Buffalo, NY
Steven Rivera (aka Steve-O), 40, Bronx, NY
Daniel Rivera, (aka D-Boy), 34, Manhattan, NY
Juan Santiago (aka Gordo), 22, Bronx, NY
Kareem Hogan (aka Remo), 36, Bronx, NY
Antoin Ramirez (aka June), 35, Bronx, NY
Harvey Gonzalez, 54, Bronx, NY
Marvin Easton (aka Mills), 28, Bronx, NY
Ralphie Gomez, Bronx, NY
Christian Morejon (aka Ceez), Bronx, NY
Jose Ramos, 37, Bronx, NY
Steven Gonzalez (aka Stevie G), 38, Worcester, MA
Gina Dibacca, 32, Worcester, MA
Xenia Mejias (aka X), 46, Bronx, NY
Jeanette Sotomayor, 35, Bronx, NY
Luz Varahona, 34, Bayonne, NJ
John Doe Sir, Mexico
John Doe Pancho
John Doe Pugloso
