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Police & Fire
‘KITTY FLIPPERS’: $500,000 Worth Of Dangerous Ecstasy/Ketamine Mix Seized In Hudson ‘KITTY FLIPPERS’: $500,000 Worth Of Dangerous Ecstasy/Ketamine Mix Seized In Hudson
‘Kitty Flippers’: $500,000 Worth Of Dangerous Ecstasy/Ketamine Mix Seized In Hudson More than five kilos of a highly dangerous – and potentially fatal – drug mixture was seized and three men arrested in North Bergen in a joint operation of local and federal authorities. A handgun and $100,000 in drug cash were recovered along with the nearly 12 pounds of Ecstasy and Ketamine, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. Members of Suarez’s Narcotics Task Force teamed up with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Newark and the federal Postal Inspection Service to make the case, the prosecutor said on Monday, Feb. 26. Arrested in the area of 91st Street and Bergenwood Aven…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Drug Dealer Admits To Selling Cocaine In Union, Ocean Counties: Prosecutors Drug Dealer Admits To Selling Cocaine In Union, Ocean Counties: Prosecutors
Drug Dealer Admits To Selling Cocaine In Union, Ocean Counties: Prosecutors A Kenilworth man admitted to selling cocaine throughout Ocean and Union counties, authorities said. Pedro Reyes-Sevilla, 32, pleaded guilty on Friday, Feb. 16 to possession of five ounces or more of cocaine with intent to distribute. Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced the guilty plea in a news release on Wednesday, Feb. 21. Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Lakewood police officers, and investigators from Union and Ocean counties conducted a two-week-long investigation in January 2021. Investigators said Reyes-Sevilla was distributing cocaine throughout Ocean Co…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
Feds: Fugitive Who Sold Mail-Order Fentanyl To NJ Customers On Dark Web Indicted On 14 Counts Feds: Fugitive Who Sold Mail-Order Fentanyl To NJ Customers On Dark Web Indicted On 14 Counts
Feds: Fugitive Who Sold Mail-Order Fentanyl To NJ Customers On Dark Web Indicted On 14 Counts A fugitive who sold mail-order fentanyl on the dark web while being pursued by authorities in Canada for nearly two years was indicted on federal charges in New Jersey on Tuesday following a Homeland Security investigation. Michael C. Wozney, a 38-year-old Canadian national from Ontario, was a fugitive when he slung the potentially fatal drug in various dark net marketplaces, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. This included hundreds of transactions in the Empire Market, according to a 14-count indictment that Sellinger said was returned by a grand jury in Newark on Jan. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Leader Of Ring That Flooded South Jersey, Philly 'Burbs With Fentanyl, Meth Gets 18 Years Feds: Leader Of Ring That Flooded South Jersey, Philly 'Burbs With Fentanyl, Meth Gets 18 Years
Feds: Leader Of Ring That Flooded South Jersey, Philly 'Burbs With Fentanyl, Meth Gets 18 Years A drug kingpin who headed a network that slung fentanyl and meth in South Jersey and the suburbs of Philadelphia while he hid from his pursuers was sentenced Thursday to a plea-bargained 18 years in federal prison. Glenn Long, 29, of Philadelphia, must serve just about all of the time he received in U.S. District Court in Camden on Jan. 4 because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Long – known on the street as “Bless” and “Max” – ran the operation as a fugitive for three years while under a federal indictment for major drug trafficking out of Philadelphia. A second drug conspi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
MAIL-ORDER METH: Bergen Man Charged After Quarter-Pound Arrives At Local Post Office MAIL-ORDER METH: Bergen Man Charged After Quarter-Pound Arrives At Local Post Office
Mail-order Meth: Bergen Man Charged After Quarter-Pound Arrives At Local Post Office A Bergenfield man who was being investigated for slinging meth in Bergen County was arrested when he had a quarter-pound of the drug shipped via U.S. mail, authorities said. Taha Aziz, a 34-year-old accountant by trade, was seized by local Narcotic Task Force detectives and members of the United States Postal Inspection Service when he tried to collect the shipment from California at the Bergenfield Post Office on Dec. 20, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Aziz, an NJIT and Bergen Community College graduate whose online profile says he’d previously held several accounting position…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NO CHOICE: Ex-Con Who Shot Two Victims Five Days Apart In Newark Takes Guilty Plea NO CHOICE: Ex-Con Who Shot Two Victims Five Days Apart In Newark Takes Guilty Plea
NO Choice: Ex-Con Who Shot Two Victims Five Days Apart In Newark Takes Guilty Plea UPDATE: There’s no trying to present a defense in court when the prosecutors have a video of you shooting someone, as well as the loaded gun you were carrying when they arrested you. So ex-con Antoine Hawkins, 31, of Newark, took a deal from the government, admitting in federal court in Newark this week that he shot two victims five days apart in the Brick City in August 2020. Hawkins also pleaded guilty to possessing a 9mm Springfield Armory XDM pistol loaded with 19 rounds and 626 heroin folds for sale when they arrested him a month later, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
FBI: Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Guns, Coke, More At Open-Air Brick City Drug Market FBI: Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Guns, Coke, More At Open-Air Brick City Drug Market
FBI: Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Guns, Coke, More At Open-Air Brick City Drug Market Five reputed members and associates of the Sex, Money, Murder gang were charged by federal authorities with peddling fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine at an open-air drug market in Newark. Drugs and loaded guns were seized during the arrests early last month of the quintet, who U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said slung the potentially lethal narcotics from the neighborhood at Kent and Brenner streets. He identified them as Fuquan Williams, 33; Dwight Dixon, 52; Nafee Patterson, 41; Jabriel Mason, 20; and Daqwuan Barkley, 29, all of Essex County. A federal magistrate judge in New…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Raid Finds Fentanyl, Meth Hidden In 3-Year-Old Child's Toys: Prosecutor NJ Raid Finds Fentanyl, Meth Hidden In 3-Year-Old Child's Toys: Prosecutor
NJ Raid Finds Fentanyl, Meth Hidden In 3-Year-Old Child's Toys: Prosecutor The raid of a New Jersey home found explosives along with a large quantity of fentanyl, meth and more — hidden in a three-year-old child's toys, officials said. Craig S. Jones and Alicia F. Trembler are facing a slew of drug charges after New Jersey State Police uncovered the drugs and materials for packaging, marketing, and selling, during a raid of their Prospect Street home in Phillipsburg on Wednesday, Nov. 14, Warren County Prosecutor James Pfeiffer said. Here's what authorities found, Pfeiffer said: Findings from the drug raid. Warren County Prosecutor's Office While being proce…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
10 Vintage Cars, 1.7 Pounds Of Coke, $332K Seized From Jobless NJ Drug Dealer: Prosecutor 10 Vintage Cars, 1.7 Pounds Of Coke, $332K Seized From Jobless NJ Drug Dealer: Prosecutor
10 Vintage Cars, 1.7 Pounds Of Coke, $332K Seized From Jobless NJ Drug Dealer: Prosecutor An unemployed Nutley man bought 10 vintage cars with the money he made selling cocaine, authorities charged. Authorities seized the “exotic” vehicles along with nearly $332,000 in cash that Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Omar Rios, 44, squirreled away in his apartment and a stash house. They also grabbed 1.7 pounds of cocaine, cutting agents, packaging material and a hydraulic press used to compress cocaine for packaging, the prosecutor said. Rios was seized during coordinated raids at his apartment in the Franklin Commons building on Franklin Avenue in Nutley, at a mixed-used …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Kidnappers Owed Drug Money Kept Victim Tied In U-Haul For Hours In NJ: Police Kidnappers Owed Drug Money Kept Victim Tied In U-Haul For Hours In NJ: Police
Kidnappers Owed Drug Money Kept Victim Tied In U-Haul For Hours In NJ: Police A woman was arrested for kidnapping and two suspects remain at-large as Secaucus police continue their investigation into the sale of narcotics at motels in the town, authorities said.  Police found one member of an illicit drug distribution ring was kidnapped at knifepoint in Jersey City in June 2023, since he owed Erica Festino, another member of the drug ring, money, police said. The victim was bound and driven around Hudson County in the back of a U-Haul truck for hours and robbed of cash and personal items, police said. He was eventually released, police said.  Festino was ar…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Theft Of Drugs From Bergen Prosecutor's Evidence Room Centers On Veteran Detective: Sources Theft Of Drugs From Bergen Prosecutor's Evidence Room Centers On Veteran Detective: Sources
Theft Of Drugs From Bergen Prosecutor's Evidence Room Centers On Veteran Detective: Sources A ranking detective with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is at the center of an investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office into the sale of several kilos worth of drugs stolen from an evidence room, multiple sources said. At least one arrest was expected as part of what sources say was an undercover sting involving the New Jersey State Police that led to the theft and sale of more than a dozen kilos of narcotics that had been seized as evidence. An investigation was confirmed -- without elaboration -- by both agencies. Neither has publicly identified the department vet…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
3,850 Heroin Folds, 67 Crack Bags, $35K Seized, Arrest Made Across From Paterson School 3,850 Heroin Folds, 67 Crack Bags, $35K Seized, Arrest Made Across From Paterson School
3,850 Heroin Folds, 67 Crack Bags, $35K Seized, Arrest Made Across From Paterson School Passaic County sheriff's detectives seized 3,850 heroin folds and 67 bags of crack while arresting an accused dealer who they said conducted business from his home across from a Catholic school in Paterson. The Bureau of Narcotics investigators also seized more than $35,000 in alleged profits in arresting Angel Rodriguez, 27, Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said. Citizen complaints brought his detectives to the area of 14th Avenue off East 33rd Street across from the St. Therese CCD School, the sheriff said. After watching Rodriguez in action, some detectives followed him and stopped his Honda…

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by Jerry DeMarco