DA’s Offi ce, DEA nab 176 lbs of cocaine, other narcotics
The seized cocaine from the Bronx and elsewhere. Twitter
BRONX TIMES R 20 EPORTER, MAY 17-23, 2019 BTR
COMMUNITY
CHIROPRATIC
of Throggs Neck
Kenneth P. Gonoud D.C.
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Police wrangled up another
plethora of narcotics from
Bronx streets on Wednesday,
May 8 after year’s worth of intense
investigating.
The NYPD and the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration
seized 176 pounds of
cocaine with a street value of
almost $3 million while indicting
19 on charges related to
traffi cking cocaine and club
drugs throughout the entire
city. Eleven of the accused are
from the Bronx.
“We will stop traffi ckers of
any illicit drugs that devastate
lives and neighborhoods,’” said
District Attorney Darcel Clark
upon the news of the bust.
The DA continued on, explaining
that the defendants
are charged in three indictments
totaling 227 counts of
various degrees of criminal
sale and criminal possession
of a controlled substance and
conspiracy. Two of the defendants
are charged with operating
as a major traffi cker,
which carries a minimum of
15 to 25 years to maximum of
life in prison if convicted.
Fourteen of the defendants
were arrested in the May take-
down while 12 have been arraigned
before Bronx Supreme
Court Justice John Carter,
two are awaiting arraignment
and fi ve have not been apprehended
yet, police say.
“These are serious charges,
and bringing those who commit
these acts to justice is
dangerous work,” said NYPD
Commissioner James O’Neil
after the bust.
According to the yearlong
investigation by Clark’s
offi ce, NYPD Bronx Gang
Squad, Drug Enforcement Administration
and Homeland
Security Investigations, the
defendants traffi cked large
quantities of the cocaine,
which was then sold in bulk
to distributors, and which in
turn was sold in $10 and $20
packets, sometimes in crack
form, and then disturbed on
Valentine Avenue, Grand Concourse
and East 187th Street.
One indictment charges
ten people with the cocaine operation.
It also charges Alvon
Pierre and Elvis Gomez for operating
as a major traffi cker.
During the police operation,
investigators seized the
176 pounds of cocaine in a vehicle
and packed in suitcases
in an apartment on 191st
Street in Flushing, Queens
that is connected to Pierre and
co-defendant Robert Nieves as
well as the Bronx dealers.
Prior to that, police seized
$135,000 from a secret compartment
in Gomez’ car in the
Bronx.
Another indictment
charges fi ve people with distributing
Ecstasy, Xanax and
Ketamine. According that
indictment, two of the defendants
conspired to import
pills from overseas, via international
mail. Authorities in
Brussels, Belgium intercepted
1.25 pounds of pure controlled
substances before they could
reach their destinations in
the Bronx and Manhattan, according
to the DA’s offi ce.
This bust comes just days
after the DEA seized over $2
million worth of drugs, 1,200
oxycodone pills of varying
dosages, while arresting over
two dozen dealers and pill
pushers that were operating
in and around that same section
of the Grand Concourse
where this subsequent police
operation was executed.
“The NYPD, and its partners,
are committed to eradicating
drug traffi cking in the
City of New York…I commend
the NYPD investigators, DEA
Agents, Homeland Security Investigators,
and the members
of the Bronx District Attorney’s
Offi ce for their work in
this signifi cant case,” O’Neil
proudly said.