45°
The crew “typically moved about 2 kilograms of raw heroin per week, making this a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice.
State, local and federal authorities took down the network in November, seizing three kilos of bulk heroin, another kilo of heroin packaged in thousands of glassine envelopes for individual sale from a ring that they said distributed millions of dollars in heroin from a number of processing “mills” and stash houses in Paterson.
The bulk heroin had a wholesale value of more than $300,000 but, if broken down, could have sold for more than $1 million on the street, state authorities said.
“We’re facing an epidemic of heroin abuse, driven by young people seeking a cheaper alternative to OxyContin and the other opiate pain pills that have become the primary gateway drugs in New Jersey’s suburbs,” said New Jersey Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.
Those charged “were cashing in on this deadly epidemic,” Hoffman said.
The 22-count indictment announced today was returned Friday and stems from “Operation Dismayed,” an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Division, conducted with assistance from the New Jersey State Police and the DEA New Jersey Division.
Most of the 15 defendants have been jailed since the November busts.
The alleged ringleader, 37-year-old Segundo “Moreno” Garcia of Prospect Park, is charged with leading a narcotics trafficking network, a first-degree crime that carries a sentence of life in prison, including 25 years without parole, upon conviction.
Another defendant, Wilfredo “Willie” Morel, 40, of Paterson — aka “Christino Morel” — worked with Garcia to obtain large quantities of heroin, the indictment says, adding that Morel “exercised independent leadership control over certain members of the ring.”
Garcia, Morel and nine other defendants also face first-degree drug charges.
Working with the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office, the DEA and the State Police, the Division of Criminal Justice built a case leading to the busts and indictments.
During the takedown in November, investigators seized 1.5 kilos of heroin, a kilo of cocaine, and packaging materials and equipment from an alleged heroin mill located on the first floor of 447 East 21st Street in Paterson.
They seized an additional 1.5 kilos of heroin and $220,000 in cash from a second mill located on the first floor of 246 Maryland Avenue in Paterson.
Workers clad in aprons and surgical masks allegedly worked at these and other locations to cut, process and package heroin for the network. More than $35,000 in additional cash was seized from other locations that were searched.
Garcia, a Dominican national, served more than five years in federal prison for drug dealing beginning in 2000. He was subsequently deported by federal immigration authorities but re-entered the U.S. illegally and allegedly established his large-scale heroin distribution network in Paterson, authorities said.
Named in the indictment:
Segundo Garcia, 37, of Prospect Park, aka “Moreno.”
Wilfredo Morel, 40, of Paterson, aka “Christino Morel.”
Carlos Gomez, 35, of Paterson.
Malcolm Haynes, 44, of Paterson.
Rigoberto Perez, 34, of Paterson.
Braulio Minaya, 27, of Paterson.
Alvin Alba, 24, of Paterson.
Randolph Breton, 35, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Leonardo Flores, 54, of Paterson.
Wendy Hernandez Taveraz, 31, of Paterson.
Manuel Almonte, 45, of Paterson.
Ramona Almonte Gonzalez, 59, of Paterson (Segundo Garcia’s mother).
Robin Vargas, 20, of Paterson.
Christopher Lee Cox, 28, of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Franchot J. Keeling, 41, of Paterson.
The indictment says Keeling and Cox were customers of Garcia’s who distributed heroin in the Pittsburgh, Pa., area. They were arrested on Oct. 11, 2012 after Garcia allegedly delivered a package of heroin to Haynes at a stash house in Paterson, and Haynes in turn allegedly delivered the package to Keeling and Cox in a parking lot in Paterson.
Investigators subsequently stopped the van in which Keeling and Cox were traveling on Route 80 and seized 425 “bricks” of heroin. Another 65 bricks were seized from Minaya’s house on Danforth Avenue in Paterson.
Garcia and Morel remain in the Passaic County Jail, with bail set at $350,000 cash and $125,000 cash, respectively, pending bail hearings.
Deputy Attorney General Annmarie Taggart presented the case to the state grand jury.
The investigation was conducted for the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice by lead Detective Travis Johnson and other members of the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, under the supervision of Lt. Christopher Donohue, Sgt. Ho Chul Shin, Deputy Attorney General Taggart and Deputy Attorney General Lauren Scarpa-Yfantis, who is the deputy bureau chief.
Also playing key roles were the Passaic County Sheriff’s Narcotics Enforcement Bureau, DEA Group D-32 (with assistance from members of DEA Division 30 and DEA Newark Division) and the New Jersey State Police Intelligence Section.
Click here to follow Daily Voice South Passaic and receive free news updates.
