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The operation centered on a five-story brick apartment building on Broadway and surrounding neighborhood that have been a magnet for dealers, buyers and the shootings and other violence that follow them.
Detectives identified several dealers "working in concert" at the building between Carroll and Summer streets, , city Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
A few are in their 20s, he said, but several were well over 50 -- close in age to some of their customers.
They began by picking off Jamell Reed, 25, who the director said was carrying 181 glassine folds of heroin.
They then followed Carlos Burgos, 23, after he got into a vehicle that apparently was being used for "counter-surveillance" of possible police action, Speziale said.
At one point, Burgos got out and tried to hide as the driver pulled away, he said.
Detectives arrested him and then both the driver, Raymond Burgos, 29, and passenger Cynthia Angel, 31, after reportedly finding 90 heroin folds, the director said.
All there were charged with having various amounts of drugs for sale.
Returning their attention to the area, the detectives began by arresting three buyers and identifying a stash in a nearby yard. They then swopped in, scooped up the drugs and rounded up a group hanging outside the building.
The stash included 280 heroin folds, 21 baggies of crack, 52 Xanax pillls and 35 suboxone films, Speziale said.
Those eventually charged as dealers were identified as Brian Thomas, 52, John Cain, 67, Ricky Martin, 60, and Donald Miller, 58.
The buyers were from Paterson and North Haledon and ranged in age from 47 to 68.
More than $1,600 in profits was seized during the operation, Speziale said.
"We hear the concern on Broadway and will not allow it," the director said. "We will continue to remove the dealers and out of town buyers. Leave Paterson NOW or face enforcement that will intensify."
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