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Police & Fire
Convicted Murderer From Trenton Admits Selling Gun, Extended Mag To Informant Convicted Murderer From Trenton Admits Selling Gun, Extended Mag To Informant
Convicted Murderer From Trenton Admits Selling Gun, Extended Mag To Informant A convicted murderer from Trenton admitted in federal court in Newark on Thursday that he sold an illegal semi-automatic rifle and an extended magazine to a buyer who turned out to be a law enforcement cooperator. Edwin Gaines, 59, was among dozens of suspects busted in a state takedown of gun- and drug-running gang members last year. The former Jersey City ex-con sold a .22-caliber Ruger rifle and the magazine to a buyer using money provided by law enforcement "in a video- and audio-recorded transaction in the basement of a Trenton residence," U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Gain…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Philly Man Sent To Fed Pen After DEA Smashes Cali-To-NJ Heroin, Fentanyl Network Philly Man Sent To Fed Pen After DEA Smashes Cali-To-NJ Heroin, Fentanyl Network
Philly Man Sent To Fed Pen After DEA Smashes Cali-To-NJ Heroin, Fentanyl Network A Philadelphia man must spend a plea-bargained 33 months in federal prison for his role in a bi-coastal drug network that was smashed when the DEA seized more than 40 pounds of heroin and fentanyl at a Hunterdon County rest stop. Denny Diaz, 30, struck a deal with the government in exchange for leniency when he admitted earlier that he’d collected six kilos of fentanyl from a California man at the service area in Bloomsbury in March 2019. U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan sentenced Diaz in Trenton on Tuesday to three years of supervised release following his prison term.  Diaz mus…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Teens, Woman Shot At Notorious Paterson Corner Marked By Gang Wars Teens, Woman Shot At Notorious Paterson Corner Marked By Gang Wars
Teens, Woman Shot At Notorious Paterson Corner Marked By Gang Wars UPDATE: A 15-year-old boy was among three victims wounded in a weekend shooting outside a Paterson liquor store that gave one of the Silk City’s most notorious drug-dealing street gangs its name. Gunfire erupted at the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Godwin Avenue outside 230 Liquors shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday. Taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center with gunshot wounds that weren’t considered life-threatening were two victims – one 15, the other 18, authorities said. A 31-year-old woman was shot in the leg was brought to the hospital in a private vehicle, they said. Police wer…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Crime Fighters Smash Paterson Opioid Mill, Seize 17,000 Folds Linked To 10 Deaths Crime Fighters Smash Paterson Opioid Mill, Seize 17,000 Folds Linked To 10 Deaths
Crime Fighters Smash Paterson Opioid Mill, Seize 17,000 Folds Linked To 10 Deaths Authorities raided a Paterson opioid mill, seizing 17,000 folds of packaged heroin and fentanyl linked to 10 deaths of both local and suburban buyers. State authorities and Paterson police arrested Rafael “Chiquito” Brito, 33, and his girlfriend, Rosanny Prado, 38, in the raid on the East 36th Street basement operation, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. The home was equipped with outdoor surveillance cameras connected to two video monitors set up over tables where the drugs were processed, he said. Detectives seized rubber stamps used to ink brand names on the wax folds, some of whi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police: Smallest Little Whorehouse In Paterson Raided Police: Smallest Little Whorehouse In Paterson Raided
Police: Smallest Little Whorehouse In Paterson Raided At street level it was a typical inner-city storefront, with a ground-floor business that offered travel, tax and mortgage services. But upstairs, Paterson police said, people were selling sex. Responding to complaints from merchants and residents, ABC/Vice Unit members raided the second-floor Main Street apartment, where they said men came and went all hours of the day and night. Two accused hookers were arrested along with an alleged manager. More than $900 in suspected proceeds was seized. Police said they also found a bag of coke and jar of pot. Charged with promoting prostitution and …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Passaic Sheriff: Detectives Nab Garfield Account Executive With 1½ Kilos Of Heroin, Fentanyl Passaic Sheriff: Detectives Nab Garfield Account Executive With 1½ Kilos Of Heroin, Fentanyl
Passaic Sheriff: Detectives Nab Garfield Account Executive With 1½ Kilos Of Heroin, Fentanyl A Garfield businesswoman wasn't lying when she told Passaic County sheriff’s detectives who'd been tailing her that she was carrying "something illegal" in a large shopping bag. Turns out it was more than five pounds of heroin and fentanyl, Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik said. Drug investigators acting on a tip Monday night went to Belmont Avenue in Paterson, where they saw Yakania Polanco park and get out of a white BMW carrying a large blue and white shopping bag, Berdnik said. When they stopped her and asked what was in the bag, the sheriff said, Polanco, a 33-year-old strategic…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson Gang Takes Another Hit: Feds Charge Member Of ‘230 Boys’ With Overdose Death Paterson Gang Takes Another Hit: Feds Charge Member Of ‘230 Boys’ With Overdose Death
Paterson Gang Takes Another Hit: Feds Charge Member Of ‘230 Boys’ With Overdose Death The dominoes continued to fall for Paterson’s 230 Boys street gang when a reputed member was charged federally with selling the heroin and fentanyl dose that led to a user’s death. A grand jury indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark also charges Wyzier Peterson, 22, with two additional sales of heroin and fentanyl, as well as with conspiring to distribute both drugs, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Friday. Peterson was among 17 reputed 230 Boys members charged in a coordinated heroin, fentanyl and cocaine trafficking case assembled last September by a strike force comprise…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives Seize 2 Loaded Guns, Drugs, $50K In Ridgefield Park Stop Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives Seize 2 Loaded Guns, Drugs, $50K In Ridgefield Park Stop
Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives Seize 2 Loaded Guns, Drugs, $50K In Ridgefield Park Stop A secret compartment in an SUV stopped by Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives contained nearly $50,000 in cash, two loaded handguns and some drugs, authorities said. Ttwo Massachusetts men arrested in the Ridgefield Park stop were identified as driver Carlos Cabellero, 47, and passenger Luis Pena, a 29-year-old ex-con, who live together in a Worcester, MA home, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday. Members of Musella’s Narcotic Task Force found the secret stash – in an electronically-operated compartment -- after stopping the pair’s 2004 Honda Pilot on Wednesday, the prosecut…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Federal Heroin Fugitive From Paterson Captured In Georgia, Charged With Shooting Belleville Man Federal Heroin Fugitive From Paterson Captured In Georgia, Charged With Shooting Belleville Man
Federal Heroin Fugitive From Paterson Captured In Georgia, Charged With Shooting Belleville Man A reputed Paterson gang member who fled to Georgia amid a massive federal investigation of fatal drug trafficking shot and wounded a Belleville man in the city before he left, authorities revealed Wednesday. Keith Brinkley, a 29-year-old reputed member of the 230 Boyz, already was facing heroin-trafficking charges when he skipped town after shooting the 31-year-old victim in the area of Pearl and Carroll streets on Sept. 24, authorities said. Federal agents took Brinkley into custody in Georgia at the end of October, and he was brought to New Jersey this week, records show. While the U.S. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man Who Sold Fentanyl, Heroin That Killed Ocean County User Gets 7 Years In Prison Man Who Sold Fentanyl, Heroin That Killed Ocean County User Gets 7 Years In Prison
Man Who Sold Fentanyl, Heroin That Killed Ocean County User Gets 7 Years In Prison A Lacey Township resident who sold a mix of heroin and fentanyl that killed a 25-year-old Berkeley man last spring must spend nearly six years in state prison before he’s eligible for parole. Charles Rice, 58, was sentenced Friday in Toms River to a plea-bargained seven years behind bars, 85 percent of which he must serve under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, for manslaughter, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. Superior Court Judge Rochelle Gizinski also sentenced Rice to a concurrent six-year sentence for distributing heroin and fentanyl. Rice pleaded guilty to both cha…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
State, Feds Smash Newark Mill That Produced Deadly Fentanyl Tied To 29 NJ ODs State, Feds Smash Newark Mill That Produced Deadly Fentanyl Tied To 29 NJ ODs
State, Feds Smash Newark Mill That Produced Deadly Fentanyl Tied To 29 NJ ODs A total of 29 overdose deaths across New Jersey were tied to fentanyl produced at a Newark opioid mill raided by a strike force of New Jersey State Police and U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents, authorities said Tuesday. Three accused mill operators were arrested, while more than 15 pounds of fentanyl and three handguns were seized by members of the NJSP Opioid Enforcement Task Force and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), they said. The defendants sold their product in wax folds stamped with the same brand names linked to 76 total suspected overdoses across …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Jersey City Woman Gets 11 Years In Fed Pen For Smuggling Fentanyl To Incarcerated Gang Leader Jersey City Woman Gets 11 Years In Fed Pen For Smuggling Fentanyl To Incarcerated Gang Leader
Jersey City Woman Gets 11 Years In Fed Pen For Smuggling Fentanyl To Incarcerated Gang Leader A Jersey City woman was sentenced Thursday to more than 11 years in a federal penitentiary for her role in smuggling deadly fentanyl into a New Jersey state prison. Jasmir Humphrey, 31, and other associates smuggled the drug and other contraband into Bayside State Prison in Leesburg for Noel “Kuko” Salgado, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Salgado was the leader of the “Loyal Hoody Gang,” a subset of the Neighborhood Rolling 20 Bloods, a nationwide street gang, the U.S. attorney said. In one instance, in October 2015, Humphrey picked up heroin and fenatynl from Rodgerick “Boo” Garrett a…

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by Jerry DeMarco