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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 of Hamilton Avenue and Auburn Street on Aug. 6, and his second-in-command, Terike Gass, 40, Grewal said.
Rival gangs often targeted the 42-50 set, whose name is taken from the address of an Auburn Street building at the corner of Godwin Avenue where they operated, the attorney general said.
City and state detectives raided a heroin mill in the first block of North York Street where the gang cut and packaged heroin for sale, as well as a crack cocaine operation in an apartment in the 300 block of Summer Street, Grewal said.
Some of those arrested in the second bust began throwing crack and drug paraphernalia out the window as police arrived, he said.
Overall, the detectives seized more than 21,000 single-dose wax folds of heroin – some of which also contained fentanyl – along with more than a kilo of crack and $110,000 in drug cash during "Operation 42-50," the attorney general said.
The investigation included undercover buys of 10 bricks of heroin, each of which holds 50 folds, Grewal said.
The heroin that ended up killing some of its users had names stamped on folds including "Pop Smoke," "Killer Bees" and "Frosted Flakes," he said.
All but one of those charged with various drug counts are from from Paterson, including Goodman and Gass.
The others:
- Eric Pena, 28;
- Javon Cook, 28;
- Christopher Younger, 19:
- Steven Godbolt, 48;
- Kenneth McKinney, 21;
- Andre Anderson, 36;
- Anthony Hinton, 54;
- Andre White, 43;
- Brian Johnson,, 37.
Also arrested was Shomaree Brown, 36, of East Orange.
In addition to drug counts, Goodwin and Gass are charged with racketeering and promoting an organized street gang.
Anderson, Hinton and Johnson are also charged with maintaining or operating a drug production facility.
Anderson was ordered detained following a detention hearing Wednesday. Goodwin, Gass, White, Hinton, and Pena were awaiting detention hearings of their own.
The rest were released with monitoring, Grewal said.
“Paterson is a regional distribution center for heroin and fentanyl,” Grewal said. “Through collaborative investigations such as 'Operation 42-50,' we are targeting the drug traffickers who profit from the deadly opioid epidemic and bring violence to the neighborhoods of our cities.”
Deputy Attorney General Anna E. Gildea is lead prosecutor on the case for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, Grewal noted.
The investigation was led by Detective Russell Kingsland with other detectives in the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime North Unit, and by detectives of the Paterson Police Department Narcotics Unit, the attorney general said.
The New Jersey State Police Intelligence Section provided assistance in the investigation, the attorney general added.
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