stance and other charges
which carry a near life
sentence in prison.
The investigation included
hundreds of hours
of physical and covert
surveillance, court-authorized
wiretapping of
numerous target phones,
and the review of subpoena
compliance including
phone and Bureau of
Narcotics Enforcement
records the DEA said.
During the course of
the wiretapping, conspirators
frequently utilized
coded and cryptic terminology
in an attempt
to disguise their illicit
narcotics trafficking, referring
to prescription
pills as ‘footballs’ and
describing specific dosages
of oxycodone pills
by their color, blue being
the strongest dose.
This case, one of the
largest narcotics crackdowns
in James’ short
tenure is being prosecuted
by the state’s Organized
Crime Task Force
Assistant Deputy Attorney
General Thomas
Luzio.
“These individuals allegedly
made profit off of
prescription drugs and
trafficked tens of thousands
of highly addictive
pills throughout New
York City,” said James
upon announcing the
drug bust.
“There is zero tolerance
for those who flood
our communities with
dangerous narcotics that
claim lives,” the AG continued.
One of the accused,
Elba Sanchez, paid to get
prescriptions to purchase
large amounts of oxycodone
from over a dozen
sources in and around
Brooklyn and then sold
the oxycodone to Bronx
connection Wilkins Almonte,
the complaint alleges.
He also utilized several
other Bronx sources,
procuring oxycodone
from Dora Sarita-Duran,
Jeffrey Tavarez, Yamzi
Aquino, Raul Morales,
Luis DeJesus and others,
according to the DEA.
“These arrests are
significant because they
bring attention to an
emerging oxycodone trafficking
networks threat,”
said DEA Special Agent
in Charge Ray Donovan.
“Oxycodone pills have
replaced heroin glassines
on the street, and
heroin trafficking rings’
new competition are oxycodone
distribution organizations,”
he had continued.
A single 100-tablet
subscription of the drug
sold had a street value of
$8,700 according to authorities.
Almonte had multiple
Bronx-based customers,
but their largest buyers
were Joel and Jovany Lopez,
who would purchase
the bulk oxycodone in
the Bronx and re-sell it
to dozens of end users in
and around Waterbury,
CT, the DEA charges.
“This criminal motley
crew had the means
to distribute nearly two
million oxycodone pills
annually throughout
counties of New York
and Connecticut; but
as a result of collaborative
law enforcement
efforts, their operation
has been shut down and
put out of business,”
Donovan said.
Cheating on the diet: Morris
Park Avenue road plan on hold
Meanwhile, the lawsuit
Gjonaj and others fi led
against de Blasio, DOT
Commissioner Polly Trottenberg,
and DOT Bronx
Borough Commissioner Nivardo
Lopez, was Morris
Park’s ‘last stand’ to stop
the unpopular road diet.
The road diet plan was
overwhelming opposed by a
majority of CB11 members.
A 15-month battle has
raged between Morris Park
and city over its plan to reduce
the four-lane roadway
into a single lane in each
direction while implementing
dedicated turn bays
and bicycle lanes on the
bustling business corridor
from Newport Avenue on
the east to Adams Street on
the western tip, while adding
a truck loading zones
between Colden and Paulding
avenues, according to
DOT.
In that time, MPCA
chairman Al D’Angelo and
CB11 had presented concerns
to the city about side
street crowding.
“(If the road diet is approved)
cars will avoid Morris
Park Avenue and create
congestion on our residential
streets,” D’Angelo said.
Prior to inking the lawsuit,
he had presented alternatives
to DOT and the city
in an effort to fi nd a middle
ground.
“I suggested staggering
the traffi c ights to dslow
down traffi c,” the chairman
said. “They didn’t want to
try that before spending
money on this road diet,” he
continued.
Meanwhile, Gjonaj’s concerns
with the plan are that
it could lead to longer response
times for emergency
vehicles bustling across
the major thoroughfare to
neighboring Jacobi Medical
Center and Montefi ore
Hospital.
“Despite valid and overwhelming
community opposition,
the administration
planned to move forward
with their ‘City Hall knows
best” approach,’ Gjonaj
said.
A ‘anti road diet’ petition
on Change.org garnered
over 1,088 electronic
signatures.
When not volunteering
as chairman of CB11 or president
of MPCA, D’Angelo
operates a small business
on Morris Park Avenue.
He and the other ‘mom and
pops’ that signed onto the
lawsuit fear that the City’s
plan will hurt their livelihood
and make customer
parking even more challenging
than it already is.
That’s a point Gjonaj
seconded, saying, “in this
case, Vision Zero is a shortsighted
plan.”
The councilman also expressed
the belief that the
area’s congestion will be at
an all time high once the
Morris Park Metro North
Railroad station is constructed
in several years.
However, Kevin Daloia
the head of Transportation
Alternatives Bronx branch
and avid cyclist expressed
support for the road diet.
Adding bicycle lanes to
Morris Park Avenue is a
neccessity, said Daloia, who
rides the avenue fairly often.
“I believe the road diet
will make the corridor
safer,” he said.
Another issue that both
sides agree on is that congestion
on Morris Park Avenue
is exasperated by double
parked cars and trucks,
which can only be resolved
through NYPD traffi c enforcement.
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MEMBER:
from Page 1 from Page 1
Gjonaj celebrates the upheld injunction with the Morris Park Community. Schneps Media/ Alex Mitchell
DEA nabs $2M of pills
in ‘Operation Oxy-Concourse’
drug crackdown
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