Fair 82°
Police & Fire
Newark Drug Boss Who Market-Tested His Product Gets 15-Year Sentence Newark Drug Boss Who Market-Tested His Product Gets 15-Year Sentence
Newark Drug Boss Who Market-Tested His Product Gets 15-Year Sentence The head of a Newark-based drug distribution network was sentenced to 180 months in prison on narcotics and weapons charges, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey announced Monday.  Ahmad "OC" Johnson, a 38-year-old Newark resident, sold drugs throughout the city and the surrounding area for nearly a year beginning in September 2016.  Law enforcement used surveillance of phone calls and texts as well as confidential informants and drug buys to determine that Johnson headed up a drug-dealing enterprise that acquired heroin and cocaine wholesale, then packaged and sold the drugs to users…

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by Paul Milo
Police & Fire
Citywide Paterson Police Strikes Net Dealers, Buyers, 800 Heroin Folds, Coke, Cash, Gun Citywide Paterson Police Strikes Net Dealers, Buyers, 800 Heroin Folds, Coke, Cash, Gun
Citywide Paterson Police Strikes Net Dealers, Buyers, 800 Heroin Folds, Coke, Cash, Gun Paterson police arrested several dealers and buyers throughout the city over a 10-day span, seizing more than 800 heroin folds, 75 vials and 10 bags of crack, $1,660 in cash, and an illegal handgun and ammo, authorities said Thursday. In one strike, narcotics detectives hit a notorious drug neighborhood -- Godwin Avenue and Auburn Street -- arresting several accused street dealers and buyers while seizing 155 heroin folds, along with 66 vials and four bags of crack, Police Director Jerry Speziale said. Among those arrested were alleged dealers Derrick McGill, 39, of Paterson and Timothy Bow…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police: Quiet Paterson Neighborhood, Busy THC Dealers Police: Quiet Paterson Neighborhood, Busy THC Dealers
Police: Quiet Paterson Neighborhood, Busy THC Dealers A quiet neighborhood betrayed what Paterson police said a city couple packaging various forms of THC for sale might have mistaken as proctective cover for their operation. Narcotics detectives got a tip pointing to the tiny home on Garrison Street, just off Broadway, which city Police Director Jerry Speziale said “doesn’t have a lot of vehicle or pedestrian traffic” – ordinarily, anyway. Investigators kept watch and were soon led across town to another home, this one in the 800 block of 22nd Street. An evening raid there Tuesday turned up dozens of THC vape cartridges, jars of edibles and …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hawthorne Police Stop: Pound+ Of Heroin, Half-Pound Pot, $1,310 Drug Money, 2 Arrests Hawthorne Police Stop: Pound+ Of Heroin, Half-Pound Pot, $1,310 Drug Money, 2 Arrests
Hawthorne Police Stop: Pound+ Of Heroin, Half-Pound Pot, $1,310 Drug Money, 2 Arrests Sometimes all it takes for a police officer who’s just stopped a car to spot is a driver with track marks on his arm and a passenger with rubber bands commonly used to package heroin on his wrist – which is what Hawthorne authorities said led to the discovery of more than a pound of heroin, more than a half-pound of pot, $1,310 in suspected proceeds and an assortment of drug-packaging material. Two upstate New York men were taken into custody after borough police stopped their 2014 Ford Fusion on northbound Route 208 near Utter Avenue just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Both gave conflicting s…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Historic Haul: Elmwood Park PD Seizes 25 Pounds Of Pot, $30,000 Drug Cash Historic Haul: Elmwood Park PD Seizes 25 Pounds Of Pot, $30,000 Drug Cash
Historic Haul: Elmwood Park PD Seizes 25 Pounds Of Pot, $30,000 Drug Cash ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. -- Elmwood Park police seized 25 pounds of pot -- their largest haul in history -- along with $30,000 in drug cash. Police Chief Michael Foligno said members of his Narcotics Enforcement Unit watched Pedro Mojica, 40, for five weeks before moving in. They charged Mojica, of Philip Avenue, with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Disbarred Hackensack Lawyer Busted For Selling Drugs -- Again Disbarred Hackensack Lawyer Busted For Selling Drugs -- Again
Disbarred Hackensack Lawyer Busted For Selling Drugs -- Again HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A disbarred lawyer from Hackensack with a history of drug arrests was busted again by city police. Narcotics detectives arrested Barry Hoffberg, 51, on charges of maintaining/operating a drug facility out of his Prospect Avenue apartment, possessing and distributing cocaine and marijuana and having various tools of distribution -- among them, scales, grinders and sifters -- following a warranted raid Thursday, Capt. Peter Busciglio said. Hoffberg remained held Friday in the Bergen County Jail pending a detention hearing. Last February, detectives said they arrested Hoff…

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by Jerry DeMarco