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Nine reputed members of the ring were charged with a variety of drug and weapon offenses that include creating and selling private-made firearms (PMFs), more commonly known as “ghost guns," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
PMFs were actually being made on 3D printers at the moment law enforcers raided one of several locations, the U.S. attorney said on Thursday, Jan. 5.
The network, which operated largely in neighborhoods in Elizabeth and Carteret, also smuggled guns up to New Jersey from Virginia, he said.
The operation quickly drew the interest of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration, Sellinger said.
Working with local, county and state partners, federal agents created a super team of sorts. They pursued their targets through a variety of means, including undercover buys of both drugs and weapons.
From May to December last year, Sellinger said, they seized more than 15,000 individual doses of fentanyl, 26 guns -- including 24 PMFs -- and three machine-gun conversion devices, along with some cocaine.
They struck again on Thursday, he said, collecting:
- six firearms: a .25-caliber semiautomatic FIE Titan handgun, a 9mm semiautomatic Springfield model XD handgun, a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson model SD40 VE semiautomatic handgun and three PMFs;
- 8,500 individual doses, 100 bricks and a quarter-pound of powdered fentanyl;
- drug-packaging materials.
Charged are:
- Justin Aponte, 28, of Elizabeth;
- Victor Barrios, 28, of Bayonne;
- Jose Fontanez, 28, of Carteret;
- Jonathan Lakomy, 32, of Ringwood;
- Jeziel Romero, 27, of Old Bridge;
- Angel Valentin, 34, of Carteret;
- Ian Wooten, 30, of Carteret.
An eighth defendant, Christian Rodriguez, 32, of Chesterfield, VA, was arrested and charged there.
All eight remained in federal custody following first appearances in U.S. District Court in each state.
The ninth person charged, Christopher Soto, 30, of Matawan, remained at large on Thursday, Sellinger said.
Just about all of the defendants are reputed members or associates of the Almighty Latin Kings & Queens Nation, commonly known as the Latin Kings, the U.S. attorney said.
Lakomy supplied fentanyl to Aponte, who in turn provided the drugs to other members of the trafficking network for sale, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark alleges.
Fontanez, Romero, Valentin, and Wooten were identified as street-level fentanyl and cocaine dealers.
Investigators said Aponte and Barrios were producing PMFs at Barrios’s home, where they said they seized a Glock-26-style PMF 9x19mm semi-auto handgun and a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun with a Polymer-80 frame, as well as a slide from a Glock model 22 handgun.
Also found during that raid, Sellinger said, were:
- 21 rounds of 5.56-caliber ammunition;
- 45 rounds of .40-caliber ammo;
- 13 partially manufactured firearms;
- two 3D printers, along with 3D printing materials.
The defendants are charged by complaint with multiple drug and weapons conspiracy and possession offenses.
The arrests and seizures have “made our community safer,” said Daniel J. Kafafian, the acting special agent in charge of the DEA’s New Jersey Division. “There is no doubt the weapons being produced and seized would have led to violence and misery.”
The super team has “dealt a substantial blow to this criminal operation,” Sellinger added.
The list of participating law enforcement agencies and other partners is sizable, the U.S. attorney said.
It includes, he said:
- special agents of ATF offices in Newark and Richmond, VA;
- special agents of the DEA in Newark;
- the Union and Middlesex county prosecutor’s offices;
- Police in Elizabeth, Perth Amboy, Plainfield, Scotch Plains and Woodbridge;
- the Union County Sheriff’s Department;
The U.S. attorney also thanked the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey Department of Corrections for their assistance.
Handling the case, he said, are Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Mezzanote and Robert Frazer of Sellinger’s Organized Crime and Gangs Unit in Newark, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Mastandrea-Miller of the Eastern District of Virginia.
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