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Nearly two dozen locations in New Jersey and New York were raided and nearly four pounds of meth, more than a pound and a half of fentanyl and $118,395 in cash were seized by a team headed by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Narcotics Task Force working with federal Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD, they said Wednesday.
Assisted by other local, county, and federal law enforcement partners, the task force took down the accused ringleader, Juan “Ranger” Tejada, 31, of Union City, whom Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez called “a major supplier of cocaine, fentanyl and heroin” in North Jersey.
Tejada was charged along with his wife and two brothers, whom the prosecutor said were part of an “intricate web" of nearly two dozen associates.
Also captured was Carlos Moreno, who Suarez said was producing tens of thousands of fentanyl and fentanyl/heroin pills in Washington Heights that Tejada’s network sold in New Jersey.
Tejada and his brothers “used front businesses and counter-surveillance,” along with drug-delivering couriers, to build an “intricate network they believed was impenetrable by law enforcement,” the prosecutor said
Members of that network who also were arrested included seven couriers and seven primary customers who themselves were mid-level drug dealers, Suarez said.
“The veneer of seemingly legitimate businesses that include a barber shop and a used car lot gave the Tejada family the appearance of normalcy,” said Jason Molina, the special-agent-in-charge of the Newark Homeland Security Investigations Office. “However, the reality was quite different.
“Behind the family run businesses was a transnational fentanyl and cocaine trafficking organization.”
The Tejada brothers and their network “have filled our streets with fentanyl and cocaine,” Molina said. “That ends today.”
The defendants:
- Juan Tejada, 31, of Union City was charged with being the leader of a drug trafficking network, as well as conspiracy and several other drug-related crimes;
- His brothers, Enmanuel Tejada, 24, and Jancel Tejada, 30, of Union City were charged with drug conspiracy and money laundering, among other counts;
- Juan Carlos “Samuel” Moreno, 43, of Manhattan was charged with being the leader of a drug trafficking network and conspiring to manufacture/distribute fentanyl;
- Manuel “Manolo” Rodriguez, 49, of Union City was charged with maintaining/operating a drug facility, conspiracy and other drug-related crimes;
- Milka “Rachel” Dominguez, 32, of Union City, Aligie “Ligi” Delatorre, 29, of Belleville and Antonio “Cacona” Hidalgo, 43, of Manhattan were charged with conspiring to manufacture/distribute fentanyl;
- Jorge “Flaco” Bisono, 34, of Union City was charged with conspiring to manufacture/distribute cocaine and drug possession;
- Milton Gomez, Jr., 51, of Bayonne was charged with conspiring to manufacture/distribute cocaine and money laundering;
- Melvin “Bori” Aviles, 37, of North Bergen was charged with conspiring to manufacture/distribute fentanyl, among other drug-related counts;
- Richard Gonzalez, 36, of Elizabeth, Fidel Torres, 54, of Union City and Jeremy Lopez-Urena, 21, of West New York, were charged with conspiring to manufacture/distribute cocaine;
- Jesus “Charro” Leon-Segura, 48, of Union City and Jose “Lapiz” Cruz-Perez, 22, both of Union City, Jassell Ventura, 26, and Rafael “Raffy” Franco, 34, both of Newark, Curtis Lamont Lane, 46, Jersey City and Ammar “Arab” Haimor, 27, of Ridgefield were charged with conspiracy to manufacture/distribute cocaine and fentanyl.
Additional arrests are expected, Suarez said.
The prosecutor credited several law enforcement agencies:
Investigative:
- Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office
- Homeland Security Investigations – Newark
- Homeland Security Investigations – John F. Kennedy Airport
- New York City Police Department
- US Attorney’s Office – District of New Jersey
- US Attorney’s Office – Southern District of New York
- Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor in the City of New York
Assisting:
- Hudson County Regional SWAT team
- Hudson County Sheriff’s Office
- Hudson County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit
- Union City Police Department
- Hoboken Police Department
- North Bergen Police Department
- West New York Police Department
- Homeland Security Investigations – New Haven
- Office of the Connecticut States Attorney
- Union County Prosecutor’s Office
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