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Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies executed search warrants for 22 locations and 10 vehicles in Yonkers, New Rochelle, Hopewell Junction, Newburgh and the Bronx.
As a result of the search warrants, authorities recovered 4 kilograms of cocaine, 40 pounds of marijuana, three kilo presses, seven handguns, one shotgun, one bulletproof vest, $487,000 in cash, numerous cellphones and drug paraphernalia.
More than 250 investigators, police officers and special agents from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Westchester District Attorney’s Narcotics Initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the FBI, New York State Police, Greenburgh Drug and Alcohol Task Force, ICE-Homeland Security Investigations, Yonkers Police, Village of Ardsley Police, New York Police Department, federal Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office were involved in the arrests.
The nine-month investigation involved electronic surveillance, undercover drug buys, pole cameras and GPS devices attached to some of the subjects’ vehicles.
Jason Nieto, 29, of Yonkers was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree conspiracy and fourth-degree conspiracy.
Louis Crespo, 31, of Yonkers, was arrested in Greene County in January in connection with the investigation. He was arrested with an associate and was found with 800 grams of cocaine and 4 pounds of marijuana, the release said.
Twelve of the 14 other men arrested are from the Bronx, one is from Albany and the other is from Easton, Pa.
Nieto's older brother, Juan Nieto, 31, of the Bronx, was accused of orchestrating the cocaine transactions out of two locations in the Bronx, the release said.
In addition, on six occasions between August and December 2013, Jason Nieto sold large amounts of cocaine to a New York State Police undercover investigator in Yonkers, the release said.
Authorities believe that Juan Nieto oversaw the sale of more than $2 million worth of drugs. He will be charged as a "major drug trafficker."
“Law enforcement from all levels, federal, state and local, collaborated in a multi-jurisdictional effort that stretched from New York City to the Hudson Valley," Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. "This coordinated effort resulted in the takedown of a major narcotics trafficking operation in New York State."
Jason Nieto and Crespo face up to 20 years in prison on the charges.
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