Testimony

of

Bridget G. Brennan
Special Narcotics Prosecutor

Before

The New York City Council

Committee on Public Safety

Fiscal Year 2012

Preliminary Budget Hearings

March 15, 2011

250 Broadway
New York, NY

OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL NARCOTICS PROSECUTOR

1
FY2012
I would like to thank the City Council for its consistent and generous sup-
port of the Office of Special Narcotics and all of the District Attorneys’
Offices through the years. The leadership of the Public Safety Committee
has been critical in helping us through difficult times. Your commitment
to public safety and our offices has been demonstrated both in your fi-
nancial support and in your creation of initiatives that have enhanced
public safety.
Funding: I would like to reiterate my gratitude for the steps you have
taken in the last few years to make certain that my agency has parity with
the other District Attorneys. Your advocacy was critical in achieving the
needed baseline funding that will guarantee that my office is funded at
the same level as other prosecutors’ offices.
OSNP Total Funding Reductions
Unfortunately, our funding continues to be Fiscal 2012 Projected vs. Fiscal 2011 Modified
highly unpredictable. Over the last few years
we have received a flurry of baseline cuts Amount
and cash restorations, making it impossible to OSNP FY 2011 Modified Budget $17,908,646
plan. Even more troubling, in most instances,
we have only received one-time cash infu-
Projected FY 2012 Changes
sions that have replaced budget cuts of base-
line funding. As demonstrated by the 2% cut City Funding Reductions (1,153,930)
we just received, we can no longer forecast State Funding Reductions (525,530)
what our budget will be from one year to the Federal Funding Reductions (152,655)
next, or even from one budget modification to Total -10.2% $(1,832,115)
the next.
OSNP FY 2012 Projected Budget $16,076,531
In fiscal year 2012, the combined total reduc-
tion in projected city, state and federal funding
for my office is $1,832,115, or 10.2%. Such a funding loss in one year
would render us unable to fulfill our statutory duties. Therefore I urge
the Council to assist us in three critical areas: restore the City Council
cash grant to its previous level, advocate to the City for 2012 baselining
of the one-time cash infusions that we received in 2011, and help us to
eliminate the newly proposed and unsustainable two percent executive
budget cut.
Drugs and Violence: While crime in New York City is nowhere near
the record levels seen twenty years ago, there has been a troubling rise
in homicides, robberies and felony assaults in some of our neighbor-
hoods. As is well known, drugs play a significant role in violent crime.
In particular, there have been some alarming shootings and homicides
in Housing Developments that have been motivated by drugs and drug
gangs.
Unfortunately, drug selling, drug use and drug addiction have not abated
2
in New York City. Our international drug trafficking cases demon-
strate that drugs are still flowing into this country. Just this month, our
investigators assisted the DEA and the New York Drug Enforcement
Task Force in seizing 18 kilograms of heroin that had been smuggled
across the border from Mexico into California and then trucked across
the country. New York City residents were the intended purchasers
of this heroin. It is heroin such as this, along with cocaine and other
addictive drugs, that fuels the violence in the city. In just one ex-
ample, last year our office charged the city’s first drug kingpin under
the newly enacted statute. The defendant, Jose Delorbe, ran a violent
drug ring that sold at least two pounds of heroin and cocaine each day Heroin from Mexico is routed
from an apartment building in The Bronx. Delorbe and his crew were through California to New York
implicated in a shoot-out after they were captured on surveillance City.
video carrying guns and firing a hail of bullets at rivals in the street.
Adequately funding the City’s prosecutors will allow us to maintain
public safety and the crime reductions that our citizens deserve.
Black Market Prescription Narcotic Drugs: We are also facing a
new, insidious threat – the exploding, illegal use of prescription drugs
such as Oxycontin, Percoset and Vicodin. Lulled into a sense that pre-
scription drugs are safe and well-regulated, the public has been slow
to absorb the reality that we are in the middle of an epidemic. These
prescriptions drugs are abused by young and old alike. Most alarm-
ing is the regular abuse of prescription drugs by children. Prescription
and over-the-counter drugs comprised 8 of the top 14 categories of
drugs abused by 12th graders in 2009.

The easy access to prescription drugs, and the illusion that they are
safe, has lured our children onto a perilous path. This path is paid
for, in large measure, by the taxpayer. Medicaid dollars pay for many
of the drugs stolen from medicine cabinets, sold on the street, and
purchased with phony prescriptions. It is critical that we work imme-
diately to reverse this trend. I know that we can count on you to help
us to aggressively pursue this complex problem.
Community Engagement: With the Citywide jurisdiction of my of-
fice, we routinely do large scale investigations of drug gangs that ruin
their neighborhoods. However, I do not rest solely with the convic-
tion of drug dealers. I understand that to maintain the gains brought

3
by freeing a community of these drug felons, we must
work with the community to keep their buildings safe and
prevent the return of the drug dealers. For example, we
investigated and arrested a drug gang in the Albany Hous-
es in Brooklyn that were destroying the quality of life for
the legitimate tenants. Following that investigation, we
created a Teen Impact Center in the community room of
the Albany Houses in partnership with the Brooklyn Dis-
trict Attorney’s Office, New York City Housing Authority,
the New York City Police Department, the New York City
Department of Education and the Police Athletic League.
With support from the City Council, we hope to open
Opening the new Teen Impact Center at the Albany
similar centers and continue our community engagement Houses in Brooklyn, NY.
in the neighborhoods where we have dismantled drug
gangs.
Drug Treatment: Just as we must prevent drug selling
and abuse, we must also provide treatment to those who
are already addicted. Drug treatment has been a significant
priority for my agency for over twenty years. My office has
a unit devoted to evaluating, tracking and overseeing our
DTAP program, as well as monitoring the treatment granted
through the Judicial Diversion program. I continue to meet
regularly with drug treatment providers to share informa-
tion and receive guidance on effective demand reduction
strategies. Hopefully you can join me in developing an ef-
fective public information campaign to alert the public, our
schools, parents and our colleagues to the dangers posed
by prescription medication abuse.
Graduation from a treatment program is a new
Consequences of Budget Cuts: Unfortunately, the pro- beginning for defendants successfully participating
posed cuts for fiscal year 2012 will significantly hamper our in DTAP.
ability to fulfill our mission and address new challenges.
More than 96% of our city budget pays for personal ser-
vices, thus saving can only be accomplished through the reduction of
personnel. Shrinking our staff will impede our ability to serve the pub-
lic, will slow our response to cases and will have the cascading effect
of escalating costs for police, corrections and the court. Ultimately,
these cuts could impact the safety and security of our communities.

4
 Trends
A dangerous and alarming trend has swept the
country, and has New York City in its grip: the di-
version and abuse of prescription drugs. Consid-
ered a relatively minor problem just a few years
ago – especially when compared to the abuse of
street drugs – misuse of prescription drugs like
Vicodin and oxycodone has exploded at such an
alarming rate recently that steps must be taken im-
mediately to stem the epidemic. Nationally, the
picture is well documented. According to SAM-
HSA’s1 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, seven million Americans reportedly used
prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes in
2009, which was more than the number of Ameri-
cans using cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and in-
halants, combined. Of those seven million Americans, 31% reported
that their use of narcotic pain relievers for nonmedical purposes first
began in 2009.
The prescription drug abuse epidemic has hit New York City particu-
larly hard. Oxycodone, the generic name for a narcotic pain reliever
commonly prescribed as OxyContin, is among the most frequently
prescribed and heavily abused. Just last month, we received data from
the New York State Health Department which shows that, over the
past three years, the number of oxycodone prescriptions filled has in-
creased by 97% on average across all five boroughs. The breakdown
by borough is as follows:
Borough 3-Year % Increase
Brooklyn 120%
Bronx 116%
Staten Island 98%
Queens 95%
Manhattan 65%
Average 97%

It is not just the rate of increase, but the sheer number of pills pre-
scribed that is so startling. In 2010, more than one million prescrip-
tions were filled in New York city – enough to supply one prescription
for every eighth person , or 13% of the total population. In 2007, only
half a million prescriptions were filled, enough for a more reasonable
6% of the city wide population.

1 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

5
Staten Island is the borough most inundated with oxycodone. Per-capita,
the number of oxycodone prescriptions filled in Staten Island in 2010
represented an astounding 28% of the borough’s population – compared
to 17% (Bronx), 13% (Manhattan), 10% (Brooklyn) and 10% (Queens).
The increase in sheer numbers of prescriptions strongly correlates with
the increase in prescription drug abuse which our agency has witnessed
firsthand. In 2007, 6% of our caseload was comprised of prescription
drug-related arrests. The percentage more than doubled to nearly 15%
of our caseload by 2010. While the increasing numbers are a matter of
concern, the violence associated with the black market prescription drug Prescription and over-the-counter
medications are abused more
trade is outright alarming. Many of our prescription drug investigations frequently by 12th graders than
have lead to seizures of guns, and in some cases small arsenals. marijuana.

Just last month, along with the NYPD and DEA, we investigated a sus-
pected drug stash location in an apartment on the Upper West Side. A
search warrant was executed at the apartment, and officers discovered
350 oxycodone pills, as well as crack cocaine and three loaded semiau-
tomatic handguns.
Also last month, a defendant was sentenced to six years in prison after
we discovered a stash of hydrocodone pills – along with crack cocaine, a
loaded AK-47, two semiautomatic 9MM handguns, a 12 gauge shotgun
and ammunition – in his Coney Island, Brooklyn, apartment. A Sheep-
shead Bay, Brooklyn, resident was also sentenced to six years in prison
when an undercover operation involving the sale of 300 oxycodone pills
over a four-month period led to the discovery of a loaded gun and 33
rounds of ammunition in his home. This particular defendant also had a
violent criminal history.
Another recent search warrant execution in Astoria, Queens, netted a
stash of Percocet (oxycodone) pills, together with cocaine, a 45 caliber
handgun, 198 rounds of ammunition, a bullet-proof vest and a police
scanner.
These are just a small sampling of the numerous cases we see involving
illegal prescription drug dealing among dangerous felons with guns at
the ready. Without the necessary resources to combat the problem in
New York City, we will see a continuation of the escalating trade in pre-
scription drugs and associated violence.
Prescription drug abuse is alarmingly widespread. People of all age
groups have been falling victim to prescription drug abuse and addic-
tion. There is no single, identifiable profile of the typical prescription
drug abuser. In fact, older Americans make up a sizeable portion of the Seizures of prescription drugs
drug-abusing population. increasingly go hand in hand
with weapons.
Perhaps the most disturbing trend is the abuse of prescription drugs
among young adults and teenagers. The National Institute on Drug
Abuse’s Monitoring the Future survey provides some startling statistics:
15% of all surveyed 12th graders reported using prescription drugs for
nonmedical purposes in the past year. Furthermore, prescription and
over-the-counter drugs account for nearly 60% of the top categories of

6
drugs abused by 12th graders in 2009. As an example, nearly one in 10
have abused hydrocodone (i.e. Vicodin), and nearly one in 20 have
abused oxycodone (i.e. OxyContin). The Partnership for a Drug-Free
America reports similarly troubling figures: one in five teenagers has
reported abusing prescription pain relievers, and an equal number re-
ported abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers.
What makes prescription drug abuse so difficult to control is that use
and addiction often begin in a seemingly innocent fashion. Unlike
with other drugs, people do not have to turn to a drug dealer to get
their fix (not that there is any shortage of dealers on the streets selling
prescription drugs). Prescription drugs originate legally and are then
diverted to the illegal black market through various avenues. Accord-
ing to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than half of all 12th
graders said that their narcotics were given to them by a relative or
friend. According to SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, only slightly more than 4% of all people age 12 and older re-
ported obtaining their prescription pain relievers from a drug dealer or
other stranger. Interestingly, studies show that very few (around 0.4%)
bought prescription pain relievers over the Internet.
Prescription drugs are dangerous and abuse can have deadly conse-
quences. SAMHSA estimates that the total number of people rushed
to the emergency room for non-medical use of narcotic pain relievers
more than doubled between 2004 and 2008. Prescription pain reliev-
ers are involved in a substantial proportion of drug overdoses. The Na-
tional Institute on Drug Abuse reported that the number of deaths due
to narcotic pain reliever overdose tripled between 1999 and 2006 and
outnumbered the total number of deaths from heroin and cocaine. A
report issued by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention noted
that approximately 28,000 Americans died from overdoses in 2007.

7
Funding
Loss in City Funding: In current fiscal year 2011, my office received
two baseline budget cuts, an executive cut of 8.4% or $1,262,656 and
a mid-year November cut at 1.3% or $197,945 (prorated to 0.9% or
$139,305 for fiscal 2011 for partial year). Though the City restored a
small portion of the executive cut in June 2010, thanks to your efforts
during the adoption process, the total reduc-
tion in our baseline budget still amounted OSNP City Baseline Funding Reductions
to 8.52%. or $1,285,384. These cuts were vs.
One-Time Cash Infusions
all the more devastating as our baseline city Fiscal 2011 Modified vs. Fiscal 2012 Projected
funding has already been reduced by 16.4% City Baseline Budget Reductions Amount
or $2.25 million dollars since fiscal 2003,
FY 2012 -2.4% (369,000)
assuming the baseline restoration through
FY 2011 -8.5% (1,285,384)
the DA Revenue Agreement does not get re-
moved. Total Cut -10.9% $(1,654,384)
Cash Funds Received in FY2011
We have managed to avoid layoffs this year
DA Revenue Overage Funds 433,970
by offsetting the cuts with the substantial
City Council Cash Grant 112,020
amount of one-time cash funds received
during the year. The total cash funds we re- Cash Restoration of Executive Cut 109,077
ceived in fiscal 2011 equals $655,067, about $655,067
half of the two cuts combined. The cash
funds come from various sources includ-
ing: DA Revenue funding, a one-time cash
restoration from OMB, and the grant from
the City Council. Without these cash funds,
which equals the salaries of 9 ADA’s or 8
percent of my entire legal staff, we would
have had no choice but to lay off staff.
Unfortunately, the news for fiscal 2012 is
dire. The $655,067 cash funding or 4.3%
of our budget that kept us afloat in fiscal 2011
has been removed from our fiscal 2012 budget. We have just been in-
formed that we will receive another 2% budget cut in the coming execu-
tive plan. This new cut will bring our total loss in City funds over the last
two years to a stunning $1.65 million dollars or 11%.
State Reductions: The state’s budget situation appears to worsen daily
and no one can forecast how state officials will allocate scarce resources.
Overall, we foresee that combining all of our state funding cuts, our state
budget will be reduced by 37% or $525,000 in fiscal 2012. Our state
Aid to Prosecution grant, which has been cut by over a third since fiscal
2003, is expected to be reduced by at least another 8% in fiscal 2012.
In addition, the $116,300 we receive from the State for our Drug Treat-

8
ment Alternative to Prison Program (DTAP), which does not remotely
approach the cost of the program to my agency, will be further cut
by 8%. We must also assume that Narcotics Gang Unit and Crimes
Against Revenue Program funding will not be renewed next year.
Added together, these cuts amount to a 37% reduction in our state
funding in one year.
Federal Funding: Though we are grateful for the one-time cash in-
fusion in stimulus funding, our federal grant money has plummeted by
a staggering 90% or $616,619, from $687,468 in 2002 to $70,849 in
fiscal year 2009. The only federal funding remaining is the Byrne Jus-
tice Assistance Grant, which continues to diminish each year. Given
the assumed amount of federal cuts in fiscal year 2012, the chances of
our JAG funding being renewed is getting even slimmer.

9
New Needs
Funding for a Safe Neighborhood Initiative in Housing Develop-
ments: Comprehensive investigations, effective prosecutions, and coordinat-
ed community rebuilding efforts, can dramatically change neighborhoods and
the quality of life for residents of public housing. This approach is critical to
ensure that entrenched drug gangs are appropriately punished and that neigh-
Safe Neighborhoods
borhoods have both the time and resources to rebuild. We have begun this
2 ADAs $150,000
approach through the opening of a Teen Impact Center in the Albany Houses
in Brooklyn in collaboration with the Brooklyn District Attorneys’ Office, the 1 Community Liaison 45,000
New York City Housing Authority, the New York City Police Department, the New Teen Center 40,000
New York City Department of Education and the Police Athletic League. For Total $235,000
the relatively small cost of $40,000, a similar center can be opened in another
Housing Development where we have removed dangerous drug gangs.

We are also proposing to set up a small unit trained and equipped to handle
the multi-dimensional approach required in these cases. The unit would coor-
dinate, investigate and prosecute the extensive investigations needed to combat
the drug activity in the housing developments, while the Community Liaison
would work with the local District Attorney’s office to restore needed stability
to residents of the development. The unit would coordinate with other city,
state and federal agencies, and not-for-profit organizations, to assist in obtain-
ing the resources needed to ensure that the public safety gains and the quality
of life improvements remain in place. We are therefore requesting $235,000 in
funding to establish this unit which would consist of two ADAs and a Commu-
nity Liaison, and a new Teen Impact Center.

Black Market Prescription Medication Unit: Combating the sale, dis-

tribution and diversion of controlled substance prescription medication is a Prescription Diversion
multi-faceted and complex endeavor. The black market involves not only the 2 ADAs $150,000
sale of narcotic pills, but also Medicaid fraud, and corrupt practices by doctors 1 Investigative 50,000
and pharmacists. Analyst
Total $200,000
The investigation of these crimes requires an expertise in these subject matters.
In addition, coordination between the many agencies with jurisdiction over
these issues is a unique challenge. The agencies that deal with various aspects
of the black market of prescription drugs include the New York State Attorney
General’s Office, the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement of the NYS Department
of Health, the Office of the New York State Medicaid Inspector General, the
Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI, the NYPD, the New York City District At-
torneys and my office. I have been meeting with these groups to develop a
coordinated strategy to combat this growing problem. With funding for a unit
devoted to this growing problem, investigations will begin to be able to keep
up with the exploding black market in narcotic prescription medications. We
would like to request $200,000 to pay for the salaries of two ADAs and a In-
vestigative Analyst.

10
Case Highlights
Curtains for Theater District Heroin Mill
A booming heroin mill located in Manhattan’s Theater District was dis-
mantled in November. A quantity of heroin large enough to fill more than
150,000 “glassine” envelopes was seized from a West 43rd Street apartment
that housed the drug ring’s packaging operation, just blocks from Times
Square. Members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force and SNP
investigators arrested four drug traffickers, who had been busily packaging
heroin. Investigators found piles of loose heroin on tables. Tens of thousands
of glassines were already filled and wrapped into bundles for delivery. A va-
riety of stamps were used to market the heroin under different brand names,
including “Jersey Boys,” “Cats & Dogs,” “King Kong” and “95 South.”

Drug Ring Dismantled inside Brooklyn’s Albany Houses

A round-the-clock heroin
Six drug dealers who sold heroin and crack-cocaine at the Albany Houses in packaging mill operated in an
Crown Heights, Brooklyn were arrested in July. The defendants sold narcot- upscale apartment building on
West 43rd Street, just blocks from
ics in apartments, public hallways and stairwells inside two buildings at the Times Square.
NYCHA Housing Development. Following a series of shootings at the com-
plex earlier in the year, undercover officers with the NYPD’s Brooklyn North
Narcotics Division made dozens of buys from six loosely affiliated dealers
during a yearlong probe. During one meeting with an undercover officer, a
subject of the investigation was videotaped conducting a drug sale with his
preschool-aged child in tow. Police searched 11 apartments at the time of
the arrests and seized drugs and one firearm.

$1 Million in Heroin Seized From Bronx Mill

Police seized 7 kilograms (15 lbs.) of heroin worth $1 million in a court-au-
thorized search of a Bronx heroin mill in April following an extensive investi-
gation. Four members of the drug ring were arrested. A search of the Starling
Avenue apartment where the mill was located yielded 50,000 user-ready
“glassine” envelopes packaged with heroin, as well as 50 different stamps
used for branding the glassines with different names, such as “Almighty,”
“Heat Wave” and “Body Bag.” Police also recovered cardboard boxes of
empty glassine envelopes, scales, and coffee grinders used for cutting the
heroin. In the week leading up to the arrests, one of the defendants, Luis
Lara, was observed travelling to both JFK Airport and Newark Liberty Inter-
national Airport in a single day. Another of his the defendants was arrested
as he left the heroin mill with a backpack that contained 3,000 glassines of A Bronx heroin mill churned out
heroin. thousands of user-ready “glassine”
envelopes that were stamped with a
variety of brand names.

11
Brooklyn Couple Sold Rx Drugs and Laundered Cash through Real Estate

A Brooklyn couple sold large quantities of illegal prescription drugs and fun-
neled hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits into real estate purchases in
the Dominican Republic. The couple obtained the medication, including drugs
used to treat HIV, from a bodega in Brownsville. The bodega owner, who stock-
piled drugs he’d bought from patients with legitimate prescriptions, was also
arrested along with three additional participants in the scheme. Police stopped
the couple’s car in May and seized bags of pills in their original bottles. A court
authorized search of their home yielded extensive drug sale records.
Twenty-Eight Narcotics Dealers Nabbed In Operation Opera House
Twenty-eight individuals were arrested for selling cocaine, crack, marijuana and
heroin at the Amsterdam Houses, a New York City Housing Authority complex
located behind Lincoln Center. The complex served as the major a hub for drug
trafficking in the area. The neighborhood is home to five schools, including
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, Beacon High
School and P.S. 191. Undercover NYPD officers made 50 purchases during
the 9-month probe, which wrapped up in March. Residents had complained A Brooklyn couple sold illegal
about heavy traffic in the hallways and discarded drug paraphernalia littering prescription medication and
the floors in public areas, where many of sales took place. During the investiga- laundered hundreds of thousands
of dollars in drug proceeds
tion, undercover officers observed drug traffickers using students, who live in through real estate they purchased
the complex and attend city high schools, as look-outs and dealers-in-training. and developed in the Dominican
Republic.
Woman Ran Rx Drug Operation from Chelsea Apartment
A Chelsea woman was arrested for selling over $3,500 in prescription medica-
tion to an undercover officer in the span of one month. The officer purchased
oxycodone, Vicodin and Percocet from Olga Miranda during four meetings
inside the mailroom in the lobby of her apartment building on West 19th Street
in Manhattan between December 2010 and January 2011. Following Miranda’s
arrest on Jan. 7, police searched her apartment and found over 2,000 pills,
including Vicodin, Percocet, methadone and steroids. An examination of the
prescriptions used to obtain the drugs revealed they were all written out to
Miranda, and they all came from the same pharmacy. Approximately 20 differ-
ent doctors’ names appeared on the prescriptions.
A woman stockpiled prescription
Seventy Pounds of Cocaine and Nine Firearms Seized medication in her Chelsea apartment
and sold $3,500 in pills to an
An investigation into cocaine trafficking in Manhattan led police to a pair of undercover officer in the course of
stash houses in Brooklyn and Queens, where officers seized seventy pounds of one month.
cocaine with a street value of up to $10 million and nine firearms. Following
the issuance of court authorized search warrants, three members of the drug
ring and one customer were apprehended by officers with the NYPD’s Manhat-
tan North Narcotics Bureau in April. Earlier in the day, police observed a drug
sale in plain view on the sidewalk in front of a stash house on Greene Avenue
in Ridgewood, Queens. Officers recovered nearly 40 pounds of cocaine from a
suitcase and a washing machine in that apartment, as well as a loaded handgun.
Ring leader Carlos Rivera had keys to both stash houses in his possession at the
time of his arrest. The second stash house in Bushwick, Brooklyn, contained
more than 30 pounds of cocaine hidden in a plant stand that was fitted with an
electronically operated trap. Eight guns, including two assault weapons, were
found inside a speaker, while another assault weapon was under a mattress.
12
Columbia University Drug Ring Dismantled: Five Students and Three
Off-Campus Suppliers Arrested
Five Columbia University students were arrested for selling drugs at three
fraternity houses and other on-campus residences in December. “Operation
Ivy League” also led to the arrests and indictment of three of the students’
drug suppliers. One of these suppliers is charged with plotting to kidnap a
pair of rival cocaine traffickers, whom he believed had stolen money from
him. During a five-month investigation that began in July, undercover of-
ficers with the NYPD’s Narcotics Borough Manhattan North made 31 pur-
chases from the five students, who sold a variety of drugs, including cocaine,
marijuana, powdered MDMA (ecstasy), Adderall and LSD. In some cases,
LSD, a liquid hallucinogen, was applied to candies. Searches of the students’
rooms yielded quantities of drugs, scales, thousands of dollars in cash and
sales records.

Police Put the Brakes on High-End Cocaine Delivery Service

Two high-end drug dealers were arrested for running a door-to-door cocaine
delivery service that catered to the city’s elite. The dealers, Manuel Castillo
and Juan Torres, charged a 300 percent mark up on 70 percent pure cocaine
and made curbside deliveries to Manhattan nightclubs, upscale apartments
and homes in the Hamptons. An undercover officer with NYPD’s Manhat-
tan South Narcotics team made 10 drug purchases during the course of the
investigation, which led to A-1 felony charges. The drug delivery service had In a search of five Columbia
been in business for approximately five years and brought in an estimated University students’ rooms, police
recovered quantities of drugs,
half a million dollars annually. A third defendant was also arrested for assist- including LSD, MDMA, marijuana and
ing in the drug operation. Adderall, as well as scales, records
and thousands of dollars in cash.
Two Heroin Rings Beached in Southern Brooklyn
Two heroin rings that sold heroin in Coney Island and Brighton Beach were
dismantled in July. One organization, headed by Vincent Baker, special-
ized in “Coca-Cola” brand heroin and supplied several low-level dealers
in southern Brooklyn. Baker grew wary of law enforcement scrutiny and
relocated his business to a parking lot outside an Olive Garden restaurant at
the Gateway shopping center in East New York. He was arrested when he
went to see his parole officer on a prior conviction. One of Baker’s custom-
ers, Oleg Kolysyuk, owned a variety store on Brighton First St. and stashed
the drugs in the pockets of men’s suits and other merchandise he sold. Baker
pleaded guilty and is serving a nine-year prison term.

The leader of the second drug ring, Joseph Folks, supplied other dealers and
conducted his drug business outside a pizza parlor in Coney Island. At the
time of Folks’ arrest police searched his apartment, where a one-year-old
baby was present. The officers recovered a loaded handgun, thousands of
dollars in cash and a quantity of drugs hidden in a baby wipe container.

Manhattan Heroin Mill Dismantled: Search Closes Cross Bronx Express- Drug traffickers sold glassines of
way heroin stamped with the “Coca-
Cola” brand in Coney Island and
Authorities seized more than $1 million in heroin from a packaging mill Brighton Beach.
in Washington Heights and arrested six drug traffickers, who attempted to
dispose of evidence by throwing drugs and guns out the windows. As law

13
enforcement agents with the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force worked
to open the heavily fortified door to the heroin mill, located in an 18th floor
apartment on Audubon Avenue, members of the drug ring hurled two hand-
guns and thousands of glassine envelopes used to package heroin onto the
Cross Bronx Expressway, which passes directly underneath the building. A
plastic package containing a full kilogram of uncut heroin (over 2 lbs.) was
also tossed from a balcony and landed on a second floor terrace. One defen-
dant, Pedro Capellan, tried to escape by dangling from the balcony, but law
enforcement agents were already positioned on another balcony below and
forced him to turn back. The NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit closed the Members of a Manhattan drug
Cross Bronx Expressway and nearby George Washington Bridge for a short trafficking crew threw kilos of
heroin and firearms from the 18th
time in order to ensure the public’s safety and recover the contraband. Three floor of a building that straddled
kilograms (6 ½ lbs.) of Mexican and Colombian heroin were recovered in- the Cross Bronx Expressway in an
side the apartment. attempt to dispose of evidence.

Personal Trainer Sold Cocaine on Craigslist

A Brooklyn personal trainer was arrested for peddling cocaine on Craigslist
in April. Kinrod Priester sold four grams of the drug to an undercover SNP in-
vestigator, who had answered an online advertisement and arranged to meet
him in the Flatiron District. Investigators arrested Priester immediately after
the sale and were in the process of putting handcuffs on the personal trainer
when he wrestled free and tried to run towards his nearby Mercedes. He was
quickly caught after he tripped over some wire tree fencing.

Operation Domino Effect Topples Drug Ring in Upper Manhattan:

Drugs and Firearms Seized
Police arrested eight members of a sophisticated cocaine and heroin traffick-
ing ring that sold bulk quantities of drugs to distributors in New York City
and along the eastern seaboard from their base in Washington Heights. On
a typical day, ring members could be seen playing dominos on the sidewalk
as they kept watch over their territory, where they managed to evade law
enforcement for many years. During a 10-month wiretap investigation, po-
lice made 14 undercover purchases of cocaine. Search warrants executed
in November yielded pounds of cocaine and heroin, two loaded handguns
and drug packaging equipment. The ring’s leader, Pedro Guzman Damiani,
would also accept payment from other drug organizations to repackage their
drugs, using presses he stored at his home on Fort Washington Avenue. Police seized pounds of cocaine
and heroin and two guns as they
Former Beauty Queen Arrested for Forging Painkiller Prescriptions dismantled a sophisticated drug
ring that supplied customers along
Former Miss Russia Anna Malova was arrested in May after she refilled a the eastern seaboard.
forged prescription for Vicodin. Investigators with the Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement learned Malova had used a stolen prescription to obtain the
drugs. Pharmacy employees at a drug store on Sixth Avenue in the West
Village notified authorities after Malova requested the refill. She was ap-
prehended as she left the pharmacy, where she had picked up a bottle of 85
Vicodin pills. Malova had an open case based on similar charges at the time
of her arrest. Those charges stemmed from the theft of another prescription
pad from a different doctor in November, which she had used to obtain Vico-
din and Klonipin pills from pharmacy on Fourth Avenue in the East Village.

14
$4.25 Million Rx Drugs Stockpiled in Yonkers
Nearly 6,500 bottles of illegal prescription drugs carrying a street value of
$4.25 million were seized during a court authorized search of a house in
Yonkers in June. DEA agents arrested two men, Hector Silvestre and Manuel
Delesantos, who are suspected of stockpiling the medications for sale in
the Dominican Republic. Stacks of large shipping boxes were filled with
dozens of different types of medications, including many used to treat HIV
patients. Drugs prescribed for asthma, depression, schizophrenia and acid
reflux were also among those seized. The pills were packaged for bulk sale
at pharmacies. More than $4 million in illegal
prescription drugs bound for the
Dominican Republic was seized
Over $1 Million Seized From Marijuana Money-Laundering Ring in Little from a house in Yonkers.
Italy
In SNP’s largest cash seizure from a marijuana trafficking ring, investigators
recovered $1.1 million from an organization operating out of an apartment
in Little Italy. Daniel McGehean, the tenant of the apartment at 153 Mul-
berry St., and Richard Doyon, a Canadian national, were arrested for their
roles in a large-scale hydroponic pot operation as a result of an investigation
with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The drug organization is
suspected of moving at least 200 lbs. of marijuana from Canada to the U.S.
Cash seized from the two men had been shrink-wrap and heat-sealed with
packaging equipment, which was found in the apartment along with sales A violent drug trafficking ring was
records. implicated in a shoot-out on a
Bronx street, after members of the
crew were caught on videotape
City’s First Drug Kingpin Charged under New Law: Violent Crew Ar- arming themselves and opening fire
rested in The Bronx in a bid to protect their turf.
The head of a violent drug organization and 14 underlings were arrested in
May for selling large quantities of cocaine and heroin in The Bronx. Jose De-
lorbe operated out of an apartment building that he controlled on Undercliff
Avenue, where his brazen ring is believed to have sold an average of more
than two pounds of cocaine and heroin each day. During the seven-month
wiretap investigation, Delorbe and his crew were implicated in a Nov. 24,
2009 shoot-out with a team of suspected robbers. Members of Delorbe’s
ring believed the rival group was attempting to break into one of the apart-
ments where they stored drugs and/or money. Private surveillance cameras
captured Delorbe holding a gun, while another member of his organization
could be seen firing a hail of bullets down the street. Delorbe is the first New
York City defendant charged under the kingpin statute, which went into ef-
fect in October 2009 and is the only felony narcotics charge that carries a
potential life sentence. A search of 11 apartments at the Underhill building
yielded 13 pounds of cocaine, more than a pound of heroin, approximate-
ly $175,000 in cash and two guns. The building’s superintendent was also
among those charged.

Williamsburg Heroin Ring Dismantled in “Operation King Me”: Seven

Charged
Eight members of a brazen drug trafficking ring that cornered the heroin mar-
ket in a section of North Williamsburg, Brooklyn were arrested in November.
The defendants peddled heroin and crack in bodegas, apartments, lobbies
and on street corners in the vicinity of the Cooper Park Houses, a New

15
York City Housing Authority Development, and catered to customers from
surrounding neighborhoods. The charges stem from more than 20 sales to
undercover officers with the NYPD’s Brooklyn North Narcotics Bureau. No-
torious for selling narcotics in open view, members of the ring appeared in
Google Maps Street View photographs that depict one of their regular drug
spots in front of a bodega at the intersection of Jackson Street and Kingsland
Avenue. All of the undercover drug transactions took place within 1,000 feet
of a preschool. The group was the subject of numerous community com-
plaints.

SoHo Couple Peddled Crack

A couple that sold crack out of their basement apartment on a bustling block
in SoHo was arrested in May following a long-term investigation. Antonio
and Mary Henriques, who had been in the business of selling crack for at
least three months, were the subject of community complaints at the time of
their arrests. Undercover officers made numerous drug purchases from the
couple and recorded some of the transactions on videotape. Buyers would
line up early in the morning at the drug spot located close to designer shops
and upscale apartment buildings. The couple’s conduct was so blatant, they
could be seen selling crack in plain view to three customers on the very
morning that detectives arrived to arrest them.

Twelve Drug Dealers Arrested at Brooklyn’s Tompkins Houses

Four loosely-tied drug trafficking rings made over 100 sales of crack-cocaine Drug dealers spent so much time in
front of a bodega in Williamsburg
and heroin to undercover officers and were dismantled in July. Police ar- that they appeared in the Google
rested 12 drug dealers who operated in and around the Tompkins Houses, a Maps Street View images for the
NYCHA Housing Development in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Drug sales location.
were carried out in the lobbies, stairwells, elevators and hallways of the (Photo Courtesy of the New York
Post)
buildings. Members of the four groups would refer customers to one another.
In a court authorized search of one apartment that was used as a stash house
and located a few blocks away from the Tompkins Houses, police found a
loaded firearm and 33 zip lock bags of crack.

16