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Bloods Leader, Passaic County Man Busted with 28 Lbs Of Coke, 500 Lbs Of Pot At Teterboro: FBI
A high-ranking member of the Bloods with longstanding mob ties and a Passaic County man with a criminal history of his own were seized when they tried to fly to London out of Teterboro Airport with 28 pounds of cocaine and 500 pounds of pot on a private jet, federal authorities said.
Leonardo Petrosillo, 45, of West Milford, and Edwin Spears, 49, of Newark brought three companions -- Spears’s girlfriend, an exotic dancer from Maryland and a friend of hers -- as a front for a dozen drug-stuffed bags of luggage, they said.
The plane was to fly it all to John Lennon Airport in London, accordin…
Diamond District Operators From NJ, Long Island Busted In $673M Money Laundering Scheme: Feds
Four businessmen from New Jersey and one from Long Island laundered millions of dollars a day in cash through fronts they set up in New York City’s Diamond District, federal authorities charged.
Federal agents tied the quintet to $673 million in dirty money laundered through the illicit operations over the past four years, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
In exchange, Raj Vaidya, 26; Rakesh Vaidya, 51; Shrey Vaidya, 23; and Neel Patel, 26, all of Edison; and Youssef Janfar, aka “Joe Rodeo,” 57, of Great Neck, NY collected sizable fees, he said.
The three Vaidyas and P…
Burglar With Hit List Of Asian Homeowners In NJ, NY, PA, DE Gets 50 Months In Federal Prison
UPDATE: A member of a second-story crew who targeted Asian and Asian-American homeowners in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware for burglaries was sentenced to a plea-bargained four years and two months in federal prison, authorities said.
Randi Barr, 42, of Union County, NJ, was part of a group that worked from a hit list of dozens of homes based on “stereotype and opportunity,” federal authorities said.
Local, state and federal law enforcement authorities who teamed up to smash the ring found notes in the defendants’ cars that had the home addresses of individuals of Asian des…
Colombian Nationals Nabbed After NJ Home Break-In Nets Jewelry, Furs, Cash, More
Three Colombian nationals remain in federal custody and a fourth has already been deported after the government said they stole jewelry, a Rolex, an antique rifle, furs and cash in a home burglary in Union County.
The quartet also took a stamp collection, luxury bags and more after breaking into the Cranford home shortly before 5 p.m. last Nov. 30, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
They then loaded the valuables into a red Honda Accord that they'd driven there, an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says.
Sellinger, who put the total value of the loss at more than …
Mastermind Of 84 Brazen Burglaries In Nine NJ Counties, Rockland Gets Plea-Bargained 14 Years
UPDATE: A Teaneck ex-con was sentenced to 14 years in state prison for leading a band of brazen burglars who authorities said committed no fewer than 84 broad-daylight home break-ins throughout New Jersey and Rockland County.
Keith Perry, 39, took a deal from prosecutors rather than risk the consequences of a trial, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Tuesday, March 14.
Perry was among several people arrested in April 2021 for dozens of burglaries committed over the previous six months in nine New Jersey counties — Morris, Bergen, Essex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Union, Passai…
NJ Couple Charged With Running Five-Finger Discount Ring
A Passaic County couple ran a retail theft ring that paid thieves to shoplift specific items from a list that they provided, authorities charged.
Ali Soto, 42, and Vickiana Colon, 36, both of North Haledon, were both charged with being leaders of an organized theft operation, among other offenses.
The arrests were made on Dec. 14, 2022 but weren’t announced until Wednesday, Jan. 4, in a joint release issued by Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes, West Milford Township Police Chief James Devore and North Haledon Police Chief Todd Darby.
They didn’t say why.
Wednesday's release…
NJ Ring That Dealt Fentanyl, Crack Smashed By Federal, County, Local Crime-Fighting Team
Eleven accused members of a drug ring that authorities said openly peddled crack and potentially fatal fentanyl in a Newark neighborhood were charged federally on Wednesday.
The ring's "primary supplier," Frazier Burton, 46, was caught with 100 bricks of heroin and fentanyl when tactical officers arrested him Wednesday morning, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
At 50 bags per brick, that's 5,000 individual packages -- all of which Honig said carried the neighborhood drug network's particular stamps.
The case took several months for an ad hoc team of local, county and federal inve…
NJ, PA Trio Trafficked Dozens Of 'Ghost Guns,' Indictment Charges
Two Philadelphia men and one from Camden trafficked no fewer than two dozen untraceable “ghost guns” from Pennsylvania into New Jersey, a grand jury indictment alleges.
Even more guns, as well as parts, large-capacity magazine and ammo, were seized during the investigation, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Tuesday.
According to the indictment returned in Trenton, Eduardo T. Lazo Jr., 26, of Camden, organized the operation and sold the illegal guns in Camden.
Juan Enrique Fernandez, 29, and Ericknell Rivera-Mercado, 31, both of Philadelphia, are accused of bringing th…
Feds: New Mob Regime Ran Sports Bets, Extorted Victims, Sold Drugs From Philly To Jersey Shore
The mob didn't disappear from Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore after former leaders Joseph Ligambi and Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino were sent to prison, federal authorities revealed Monday.
Over the past five years, in fact, new leadership of the Philly and Atlantic City La Cosa Nostra beefed up the ranks, commanding illegal sports gambling, extorting victims through loansharking, selling cocaine, heroin and opioids -- even conspiring to kidnap a drug dealer who sold them bad dope, they said.
Fifteen reputed mobsters and associates of the organized crime family were charged in a …
Killer Heroin: Paterson Mills Raided, Gang Members Busted, 21,000 Heroin Folds, $110G Seized
A dozen members of a violent gang that put 50,000 doses of lethal heroin and over two pounds of crack a week on the streets of Paterson were arrested by city and state authorities in a major takedown, authorities said Thursday.
The leaders, members and associates of the "42-50" subset were slinging heroin connected to eight overdose deaths and 14 nonfatal ODs at open-air drug markets where shootings were common before last week’s roundup, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.
Among them was accused ringleader Marvin Goodman, 29, who was wounded in a drive-by shooting at the corner o…
Feds: Cliffside Park Dealer Had Softball-Sized Heroin Bags, Stolen Gun, Stashed In Bronx Garage
A Cliffside Park man had heroin bags the size of softballs, a stolen handgun with a high-capacity magazine and tens of thousands of dollars in cash stashed in a minivan parked in a public garage near the Bronx Botanical Gardens, federal authorities said.
DEA agents followed Jose Pena, a/k/a “Gucci,” 31, as he drove from Cliffside Park to the garage, parked next to a minivan and got into it, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Approaching the minivan, they immediately spotted the bags of heroin, he said.
They also found the stolen Glock .22-caliber pistol -- loaded with 13 bullets in a larg…