February 22–28, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 3
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Red hot chili prisoner
Feds: Man tried to import cocaine inside peppers
By Julianne Cuba
Brooklyn Paper
He’s in hot water!
A Pennsylvania man faces
no less than 10 years behind
bars after a Brooklyn federal
jury convicted him of attempting
to smuggle more than 15
kilograms of drugs into the
country inside boxes of chili
peppers shipped to the Red
Hook Container Terminal.
The sentencing is a worthy
punishment for a plot that
the United States attorney for
the Eastern District of New
York called dangerous — and
idiotic.
“The defendant’s scheme
to conceal 16 kilograms of cocaine
in a shipment of chili
peppers wasn’t such a hot idea,
and with today’s verdict, he
has been held responsible for
his crimes,” Richard Donoghue
said following the Feb.
14 conviction. “I commend
the prosecutors and the Drug
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York
The cocaine was stashed in these boxes filled with
the spicy fruit.
Enforcement Administration
agents for their excellent work
in preventing illegal narcotics
from being distributed in
our country.”
Keystone State resident
Humberto Baez, 50, worked
as a producer importer and in
2016 started scheming with
accomplices to bring cocaine
from the Dominican Republic
into the United States, according
to prosecutors, who
said he contacted a co-conspirator
— whom Baez did not
know was also working with
the Feds — to store the drugs
at the Red Hook port.
The pair set up two socalled
dry runs, during which
they shipped containers filled
only with chili peppers to
Kings County, to make it
appear as if the duo’s operation
was a legitimate business,
prosecutors said.
But in February 2018, Baez
alerted his partner that about
16 kilograms of cocaine hidden
in a shipment of cardboard
boxes filled with the spicy fruit
— which he referred to in code
as “ripe tomatoes” — arrived
in Florida from the Dominican
Republic.
Baez instructed his accomplice
to drive the cocaine up to
his Pennsylvania warehouse,
but on March 1 of that year,
law enforcement officials
seized the drugs before they
ever made it out of the Sunshine
State, according to the
Feds, who said officials arrested
the suspect later that
month in Manhattan.
ON THE RADIO
An eye on aspiring advocates
By Moses Jefferson
Brooklyn Paper
They’re their own best advocates!
Two Brooklynites running
in the 17-person race to fill
the city’s vacant public advocate
seat campaigned for their
candidacy on Brooklyn Paper
Radio this week, ahead
of the Feb. 26 election to fill
the office.
Bushwick Councilman Rafael
Espinal and civil servant
turned community activist
Tony Herbert, who grew up
in Prospect Heights, pitched
themselves for the citywide
watchdog position to co-hosts
Anthony Rotunno and Johnny
Kunen, and Brooklyn Paper
political columnist Kevin
Duggan, who is keeping a
close watch on the race and
joined the special show.
Both Espinal, who is running
on the Liveable City
party line in the city’s first
nonpartisan election, and
Herbert, who is running on
the Residents First party line,
blasted those pols and critics
who claim the seat should be
abolished because it is a waste
of taxpayer dollars, with the
councilman dismissing legislation
introduced by a colleague
— which if passed
would create a ballot referendum
to let voters decide
whether or not to axe the office
— as nothing but funny
business.
“I thought it was a joke,”
Espinal said of the bill introduced
by Councilman Kalman
Yeger (D–Midwood). “From
the moment it was introduced,
I didn’t believe it was a viable
bill.”
The two also explained
how they, as public advocate,
would have worked to
bring more transparency to
the controversial — and now
kaput — deal to bring tech behemoth
Amazon to Queens,
a courtship Espinal noted he
opposed from the get-go.
“If you look at the impact
Amazon has had on Seattle,
just on the overall livability
of the city, when it comes to
the cost of living and the infrastructure,
it has been a big
problem,” he said.
Both men positioned themselves
as fighters for whom
they called real New Yorkers,
with Herbert — whose resume
includes administrative positions
in Council, state government,
and at city do-good
groups and private companies
— recalling his family’s own
experience with gentrification
amid the redevelopment of his
native Prospect Heights over
the last decades.
And the activist — who
did not participate in the final
public advocate debate on Feb.
20 — fired back at Rotunno
when he questioned whether
he had the name recognition
to land a victory.
“For the last 10 years, I’ve
been in peoples households
utilizing the tool that has made
me the advocate that I am —
media — thus making myself
somewhat of a household
name,” Herbert said.
The episode wasn’t all
politics, however. National
treasure and Arts Editor Bill
Roundy again joined the show
to share his picks of where to
go and what to do in Kings
County in the coming days.
But for those picks, and to
learn more about Espinal and
Herbert’s campaigns, you’ll
have to listen to the full episode
— which you can do right
now! And don’t forget to check
out the latest episode of our
sister podcast Power Women
when you’re done.
Brooklyn Paper Radio can
be found on BrooklynPaper.
com, iTunes , and Stitcher .
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