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Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole
Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole The leader of a crew that slung cocaine and heroin in the Greenville section of Jersey City was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison. Jerome Powell, 43, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained 51-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. He and four accused members worked in the area of Columbia Park, moving the drugs from an undisclosed stash house to a home on Bartholdi Avenue that servied buyers, according to a DEA complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. Authorities built a case by recording street deals and picking off buy…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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BIG BUST: Paterson Detectives Seize Kilo Of Coke, 50 Pounds Of Pot, Six Guns, 680 Ammo Rounds, BIG BUST: Paterson Detectives Seize Kilo Of Coke, 50 Pounds Of Pot, Six Guns, 680 Ammo Rounds,
BIG Bust: Paterson Detectives Seize Kilo Of Coke, 50 Pounds Of Pot, Six Guns, 680 Ammo Rounds, Paterson detectives crashed a major drug operation in a quiet residential neighborhood, seizing a kilo of cocaine, a half-dozen illegal guns, 680 rounds of ammunition and nearly 50 pounds of pot. Jonathan Leon, 30, kept a low profile while keeping an array of firearms and a sizable amount of drugs in the modest house on Grand Street off Reservoir Street near westbound Route 80, Police Director Jerry Speziale said. Leon was assisted by Christhopher Vasquez (correct spelling), 31, the director said. Undercover detectives used informants, kept an eye on the house and eventually secured a sear…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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23,000 Fentanyl Doses, 30 Homemade Guns Seized In NJ Latin Kings Takedown: Feds 23,000 Fentanyl Doses, 30 Homemade Guns Seized In NJ Latin Kings Takedown: Feds
23,000 Fentanyl Doses, 30 Homemade Guns Seized In NJ Latin Kings Takedown: Feds More than 23,000 doses of fentanyl, nearly 30 homemade firearms and a host of parts designed to create fully-automatic machine guns were seized in the takedown of a drug and gun trafficking network run by New Jersey members of the Latin Kings, federal authorities announced. Nine reputed members of the ring were charged with a variety of drug and weapon offenses that include creating and selling private-made firearms (PMFs), more commonly known as “ghost guns," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. PMFs were actually being made on 3D printers at the moment law enforcers raided one of sever…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Dealer Admits Role In Major Ring That Moved Fentanyl, Meth, Coke By The Pound Into NJ From NYC Dealer Admits Role In Major Ring That Moved Fentanyl, Meth, Coke By The Pound Into NJ From NYC
Dealer Admits Role In Major Ring That Moved Fentanyl, Meth, Coke By The Pound Into NJ From NYC One of three Manhattan men accused of flooding four North Jersey counties with massive quantities of fentanyl, meth and coke admitted his role in the organization, authorities said. Juan Carlos Merced Moreno, 45, and his partners operated a fentanyl mill in Washington Heights that supplied traffickers in New Jersey with at least 25,000 pills that were distributed throughout the Garden State, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. And that wasn't all. Authorities discovered the operation during what began as an investigation into the Hudson County crew, which flooded the str…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Drug Raid Busts Newark Pair With 100+ Heroin Bricks, Cocaine: Prosecutor Drug Raid Busts Newark Pair With 100+ Heroin Bricks, Cocaine: Prosecutor
Drug Raid Busts Newark Pair With 100+ Heroin Bricks, Cocaine: Prosecutor Two women from Newark face drug trafficking charges after police seized "bricks" of heroin and cocaine during a raid Tuesday, Dec. 6.  Newark police and detectives with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office executed search warrants at three properties Tuesday — one on the 100 block of Chadwick Avenue, another on the 200 block of Goldsmith Avenue, and a third on Harrison Avenue in Garfield, officials said.  There, authorities found 107 "bricks" of heroin, 26 grams of cocaine, and 1,042 vials containing crack cocaine, said Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens II…

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by Mac Bullock
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Paterson Detectives Slam Drug Dealers Serving Out-Of-Town Buyers Near City Transportation Hubs Paterson Detectives Slam Drug Dealers Serving Out-Of-Town Buyers Near City Transportation Hubs
Paterson Detectives Slam Drug Dealers Serving Out-Of-Town Buyers Near City Transportation Hubs Dealers slinging heroin and crack in Paterson had what clearly felt like a safe setup near the train station. Out-of-town buyers could walk a short stretch of Park Avenue -- a one-way street always thick with vehicles -- and cop their drugs before hopping a train back to wherever they came from. The setup wasn't so cushy, several accused dealers discovered. Three of them -- identified as Jamal Jones, 26, Musa Brown, 29, and convicted dealer Shariek Linder, 29 -- used a stash vehicle to sell from in front of a multi-family building on Park Avenue, city Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: 200 Pounds Of Coke, Fentanyl Seized In NJ Turnpike Stop Of NY Tractor-Trailer Driver Feds: 200 Pounds Of Coke, Fentanyl Seized In NJ Turnpike Stop Of NY Tractor-Trailer Driver
Feds: 200 Pounds Of Coke, Fentanyl Seized In NJ Turnpike Stop Of NY Tractor-Trailer Driver A tractor-trailer driver from Yonkers had nearly 100 kilos of cocaine and fentanyl combined when he was stopped for driving erratically on the New Jersey Turnpike near the Meadowlands, authorities said. Members of a special federal drug task force found the nearly 225-pound shipment after stopping Alejandro Nouel Lajud, 39, on the Turnpike in East Rutherford on Monday, Dec. 5, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. The drugs were divided into 95 brick-shaped packages each weighing a little over two pounds -- 70 of them containing cocaine and 25 holding fentanyl, Selling…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hunterdon County Pair Found With 9 Guns, Thousands In Meth, LSD, Shrooms During K9 Raid: NJSP Hunterdon County Pair Found With 9 Guns, Thousands In Meth, LSD, Shrooms During K9 Raid: NJSP
Hunterdon County Pair Found With 9 Guns, Thousands In Meth, LSD, Shrooms During K9 Raid: Njsp Two accused Hunterdon County narcotics dealers were slapped with drug and weapons charges after a two-month investigation led to the discovery of nine firearms and thousands in meth, LSD, and other drugs, state police said. Bradley Walsh, 50, and Kathleen Grabowski, 47, of Union Township, were identified as suspected narcotics dealers following an investigation launched in October by the Strategic Investigations Unit-North, New Jersey State Police said Wednesday. A search warrant carried out on their home and vehicle by the prosecutor's office and state police K9 Unit on Tuesday, Nov. 22 al…

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by Valerie Musson
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Wanted Sex Offender Had 400 Heroin Folds, Crack Vials At Route 46 Motel: South Hackensack PD Wanted Sex Offender Had 400 Heroin Folds, Crack Vials At Route 46 Motel: South Hackensack PD
Wanted Sex Offender Had 400 Heroin Folds, Crack Vials At Route 46 Motel: South Hackensack PD A registered sex offender with a mounting pile of outstanding warrants was caught with hundreds of heroin folds and crack vials during a South Hackensack police stop, authorities said. Robert Norman, 39, of Wantage, was a passenger in a 2006 Volkswagen Passat stopped by Detectives Brian Kropp and Sean Bannon for several violations after it pulled away from the Congress Inn motel on Route 46, Detective Sgt. James Donatello said. Norman, who's known to police in North Jersey, tried identifying himself as "Abdullah Booker," the sergeant said. The detectives seized Norman after determining tha…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Paterson Couple Charged With Running Coke Factory From Attic Apartment Paterson Couple Charged With Running Coke Factory From Attic Apartment
Paterson Couple Charged With Running Coke Factory From Attic Apartment Paterson police seized more than a pound and a half of cocaine from a city couple who they said were dealing from an attic apartment. Xavier Rivera was arrested outside the apartment in a multi-family home on North 7th Street off the corner of Jefferson Street, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said. Inside they found Yudelka Bruno, he said. Detectives who'd been tipped off to the couple also searched both the apartment and Rivera's 2012 Mercedes Benz, the director said. Rivera and Bruno were charged with operating a drug production facility, as well as with possession and distributi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Paterson Ex-Con Admits Having Drugs, Gun When Detectives Busted In Paterson Ex-Con Admits Having Drugs, Gun When Detectives Busted In
Paterson Ex-Con Admits Having Drugs, Gun When Detectives Busted In UPDATE: A convicted pedophile from Paterson whose parole officers found large amounts of cash on top of his bed admitted on Thursday that he kept a loaded gun beneath it, authorities said. Jessie Mayfield, 59, told a judge he also had fentanyl for sale along with ilegal .22-caliber Ruger -- which, as a convicted felon, he was prohibited from owning, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Nov. 17. Records show that Mayfield served three years and eight months in state prison for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy and fondling two other girls, ages 5 and 6, in 2014. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Member Of Paterson '230 Boys' Admits Selling Heroin-Laced Fentanyl That Killed User Member Of Paterson '230 Boys' Admits Selling Heroin-Laced Fentanyl That Killed User
Member Of Paterson '230 Boys' Admits Selling Heroin-Laced Fentanyl That Killed User A reputed member of a notorious Paterson street gang admitted in federal court in Newark on Wednesday that he sold fentanyl-laced heroin that killed a user. Authorities didn't identify the victim who they said died after ingesting drugs sold by Wyzier Peterson, 25. Peterson was among 17 reputed 230 Boys members charged in a coordinated heroin, fentanyl and cocaine trafficking case assembled in September 2019 by a strike force comprised of agents from the DEA, ATF and state, county and local law enforcement. One of them, Keith Brinkley, shot a Belleville man in Paterson and then fled to Geo…

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by Jerry DeMarco