Six individuals were arrested in connection with a large-scale heroin/fentanyl packaging mill in the Crotona neighborhood of The Bronx, representatives from the City Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor (SNP) said on Monday, Aug. 8. A consignment of over 25 kilograms of narcotics (more than 55 pounds), carrying a street value of more than $5 million, was destined for distribution throughout New York City and in Massachusetts, according to law enforcement officials. The packaging mill was located inside an apartment across the street from a public elementary school, near the Bronx Zoo.

 

Bridget G. Brennan, New York City’s special narcotics prosecutor, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark, Frank A. Tarentino III, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York division, Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell and State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen announced the arrests following the arraignment of six people at Manhattan Criminal Court over the weekend.

 

Two criminal complaints filed by the SNP contain charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees, and criminally using drug paraphernalia in the second degree.

 

According to the prosecution, on Thursday, Aug. 4, at approximately 6:22 p.m., members of NYDETF group T-22 arrived at 2120 Crotona Avenue, Apt. 12, located across the street from P.S. 57 Crescent, on the border between the Belmont and Crotona sections of The Bronx, in order to conduct a court-authorized search.

 

Officials said as agents and officers attempted to gain entry to the apartment, members of group T-22 observed six individuals allegedly climbing the fire escape towards the roof of the five-story building. Upon seeing the agents and officers stationed on top of the roof, the six men, Randy Ledesmal, Alexis Rosario Sabrino, Jose Mora, Darwin Taveras Santos, Miguel Then Serverino and Dayson Taveras, allegedly reversed direction to move down the fire escape, and were detained between the second and fourth floors of the building.

Once inside the apartment, agents and officers determined the front door had been fortified with extra dead bolts and a peep hole outfitted with a camera. Inside a bedroom, agents and officers allegedly recovered a suitcase containing approximately 300,000 glassine envelopes filled with heroin/fentanyl.

 

Another 7,000 glassines of heroin/fentanyl were also allegedly found inside a bedroom closet. Approximately 200,000 glassines of heroin/fentanyl, and another 5.5 kilograms in brick form were allegedly found in the living room. Also allegedly recovered from the apartment were multiple stamps for labeling glassines and multiple grinders for mixing narcotics.

 

Additional individuals are being prosecuted by the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts. On Aug. 3, 2022, prior to the court-authorized search at 2120 Crotona Avenue, Apt. 12, one individual, Carlos Cordova, who members of group T-22 were conducting surveillance on, was allegedly observed outside of the apartment building, driving a white Honda Civic with Massachusetts license plates.

 

Two other individuals were allegedly in the vehicle with him. Later that evening, at 10:10 p.m. a vehicle stop was conducted in the vicinity of Route 391 off Exit 5 by members of the DEA Springfield resident office. Jose Vazquez Cordova and Angel Rivera were arrested, and over 5,000 glassines of heroin/fentanyl were allegedly recovered from the trunk of the vehicle. The heroin/glassines were stamped “Yeezy”.

 

DEA laboratory analysis of the narcotics seized in New York and Massachusetts is pending.

 

The investigation was conducted by DEA’s New York drug enforcement task force (NYDETF) group T-22, which comprises agents and officers with DEA New York division, the NYPD and the New York State Police. SNP’s investigators’ unit and DEA’s Springfield regional office in Massachusetts assisted in the investigation.

 

Brennan thanked Clark and commended SNP’s special investigations bureau and investigators unit, the DEA’s New York division and New England division, the NYPD, and the New York State Police for their work on the investigation.

 

“The mass production and distribution of fentanyl is fueling record numbers of overdose deaths across New York City and the nation,” said Brennan. “The investigation and arrests announced today, resulting in the ultimate destruction of hundreds of thousands of glassines of lethal drugs, will undoubtedly prevent many deaths. Drug traffickers who attempt to profit by widely distributing deadly drugs will face appropriate consequences for the harm they have caused.”

 

For her part, Clark said, “This investigation by special narcotics prosecutor, Bridget Brennan, and the New York drug enforcement task force has dismantled a major heroin and fentanyl mill, located right across the street from one public school, within three blocks of two others and four blocks from the Bronx Zoo, and intercepted 55 pounds of drugs that would have ravaged lives throughout the city.”

 

She added, “Traffickers are brazenly embedding themselves in our communities and we will not tolerate it. We will keep working to stop them from using The Bronx as a hub for narcotics distribution.”

 

Tarentino said there was nothing more important for DEA than safeguarding the public from the harm associated with drug trafficking, and said the case made an enormous impact in decreasing the supply of heroin and fentanyl throughout the Northeast. “I applaud the members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, the NYC Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the DEA’s New England Division for their assistance in this investigation,” he said.

 

Sewell said the fight to rid the community of illegal drugs was unrelenting. “The criminals who peddle them prey on some of our city’s most vulnerable people, and the NYPD will make every effort to hold them accountable,” she said. “I want to thank the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York, the DEA New York Division, the New York State Police, the Bronx District Attorney, and all of our law-enforcement partners for their outstanding work on this case.”

 

Meanwhile, Bruen said the suspects were preparing large quantities of deadly drugs for sale, looking to profit from the activity with no regard for the damages the narcotics inflict on communities. “Through the efforts of our partnership, we have removed these drugs from our streets and will do everything we can to ensure the suspects are held accountable,” he said.

 

On Aug. 5, Norwood News reported how over 13 pounds of heroin and fentanyl were seized at a drug packaging mill in Bedford Park. This followed a separate major drug takedown in the Mt. Hope section of The Bronx in late June.

 

Meanwhile, as also reported, the City announced on Aug. 5 new measures to train citizens on how to prevent and reduce overdose deaths, especially in light of overdose rates of 75.3 percent in Hunts Point-Mott Haven.

 

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.