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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 comprised of agents from the DEA, ATF and state, county and local law enforcement.
One of them was captured in Georgia at the end of October and brought to New Jersey this week to face both local and federal charges.
That man, 29-year-old Keith Brinkley, shot a Belleville man in Paterson before fleeing South, authorities said.
SEE: Federal Heroin Fugitive From Paterson Captured In Georgia, Charged With Shooting Belleville Man
A reputed leader of the gang, Shakeem “230 Starter” Ricks – who'd served time for a shooting that took the life of a popular 14-year-old city girl -- was shot and killed before dawn Tuesday.
SEE: Reputed Gang Leader Convicted Of Ordering Hit On Paterson Girl, 14, Shot Dead
Federal authorities say the 230 Boys members and associates, all Paterson residents, were involved in selling heroin tied to more than 60 fatal overdoses in New Jersey in less than a year.
The 230 gang derives its name from a central location: a liquor store located at 230 Rosa Parks Blvd.
The gang has operated primarily along Godwin Avenue, between Rosa Parks Boulevard and East 18th Street, and in the vicinity of the 12th Avenue basketball courts, federal authorities said.
Members sell heroin in bricks and bundles that is frequently mixed with fentanyl, a potent, synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin -- and, as a result, potentially fatal – investigators said.
230 Boys are "often involved in ongoing feuds with other local gangs, including the '4K Korner Boys,' a street gang [that] operates primarily on Rosa Parks Boulevard between Keen and Lyon streets, and the Glock Boys, a street gang [that] operates primarily on the north side of Paterson and is often referred to by 230 Boys as 'down the hill'," the complaint sworn by the ATF says.
The drug trafficking case was assembled by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), whose mission, Carpenito said, is “to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.”
Carpenito credited special agents and task force officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the New Jersey State Police, the Passaic and Morris county prosecutor’s offices and Paterson and Jefferson Township police.
Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Francesca Liquori, of the OCDETF/Narcotics Unit.
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