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The 10-month “Operation Worldwide” operation -- led by New Jersey State Police and the state Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau -- took its name from accused kingpin Jerome "Worldwide" Armstead, 47, of Salem.
Armsted is charged with conspiracy, along with various drug, weapons and high-capacity magazine possession counts, in an indictment returned Wednesday in Trenton, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said.
State authorities teamed up with local, county and federal authorities to cut the operation off at its knees, seizing more than a pound each of heroin and crack, nearly a half-pound fentanyl, two handguns and an assault firearm, among other contraband, the attorney general said.
State Police Supt. Col. Patrick J. Callahan predicted there "will undoubtedly be a positive impact on Salem City and its surrounding communities.”
“Indictments like this show that law enforcement is best when we collaborate to investigate and prosecute organizations that put communities at risk,” Bruck added.
Indicted along with Armstead on Wednesday were William Burden, 48, of Trenton; Deborah Derricott, 55, of Upper Deerfield; Kunta K. Reeves, 43, of Carneys Point, as well as Salem residents Kaleb Morris, 18; Damyja Noel, 20; Ronnell Booker, 44; Jake Saxton, 43; Arthur Armstead, 50; Artaj Northrop, 26, and Monique Noel, 39.
All face conspiracy and drug charges.
Burden -- whom Bruck said was one of Jerome Armstead's suppliers -- was also charged with weapons offenses, as was his live-in girlfriend, Derricott, along with Morris and Noel.
Members of the New Jersey State Police and U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Morris on an outstanding warrant for a firearms offense.
Both he and Noel are also charged with unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammo magazine.
Deputy Attorney General Veronica Vizzard and Deputy Attorney General Aaron Witherspoon secured the indictment following an investigation headed by Detective Michael Cresci of the NJSP Intelligence and Criminal Enterprise Section, Violent and Organized Crime Control South Bureau and Crime Suppression South Unit, Bruck said.
Cresci worked with detectives from those units, as well as with the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Salem, Cumberland and Gloucester county prosecutor's offices, the Salem and Camden county sheriff's departments and police from Bridgeton, Carneys Point, Salem and Camden County, the attorney general said.
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