Officials from the New York division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and NYC’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor announced on Thursday, Jan. 5, that record amounts of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and fentanyl powder were seized in New York during 2022, including in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx.

 

Special narcotics prosecutor (SNP), Bridget G. Brennan, said “thousands of New Yorkers” were mourning precious lives claimed by deadly fentanyl last year. “Fentanyl saturates the illegal drug supply in New York City and is a factor in roughly 80 percent of overdose deaths,” Brennan said. “Even casual or occasional illegal drug use could be fatal, and with an explosion in counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, a single tablet purchased online or on social media could be deadly.”

 

Officials from the DEA’s New York division said the agency seized 1.9 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills (a 152 percent increase from 2021) and 1,958 pounds of fentanyl, the equivalent of 72 million lethal doses in 2022. In addition, nearly 30,000 pounds of cocaine, over 700 pounds of heroin, and 1,800 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in 2022.

 

DEA special agent in charge, Frank A. Tarentino III, said, “To put that into perspective, throughout 2022, we seized enough deadly doses of fentanyl in New York for more than three times the population of New York State. A deadly dose is just two milligrams of fentanyl and laboratory analysis shows that six out of ten fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills are lethal.”

 

He added, “New York has always been a hub for drug trafficking organizations feeding New York City and the northeast and we are lasered-in on cutting off the head of the snake by defeating the two Mexican drug cartels responsible – the Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG) Cartels.” In 2019, Norwood News reported on the sentencing of Joaquín Guzman Loera, otherwise known as “El Chapo,” former head of the Sinaloa cartel which allegedly had ties to smaller drug dealing groups in The Bronx.

 

Officials said that throughout 2022, cases handled by the SNP, in conjunction with its local, state and federal partners, resulted in the seizure of over 950,000 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, an increase of more than 425 percent over 2021. They said Mexican drug cartels are increasingly pressing fentanyl into counterfeit pills designed to look like blue M30 oxycodone pills, or in a multitude of colors.

 

Meanwhile, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 3,000 fatal overdoses occurred in New York City in the 12 months ending in July 2022, and approximately eight in ten of these deaths were due to fentanyl, or more than 2,300 deaths.

 

SNP officials said the office seeks to save lives and disrupt narcotics trafficking at the highest level possible by working in close collaboration with DEA New York Division, the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force (NYDETF), the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police, the City’s five elected District Attorneys, and other partners.

The officials added that in December 2022 alone, SNP cases conducted with the NYDETF and other partners resulted in the seizure of approximately 175,000 fentanyl pills, according to preliminary data. They said an analysis of significant investigations by SNP and DEA’s New York Drug Enforcement Task Force (NYDETF) during this period reveals striking similarities.

 

Officials found that the defendants lived out of state, with the majority from the West Coast, large quantities of fentanyl pills and powder were transported together for distribution in New York City, vehicles used in transporting fentanyl had out-of-state license plates, and the loads of narcotics were worth a million dollars or more.

 

According to the SNP, on Dec. 7, 2022, members of NYDETF Group T-12 arrested one man in Lower Manhattan and recovered approximately 50,000 fentanyl pills worth up to $1 million from inside a vehicle. The pills were contained in nine tightly bound packages inside a cardboard box. SNP officials said four packages contained light blue, fentanyl pills marked with M30 and five packages contained multicolored, fentanyl pills marked with M30. David Carranza of Pixley, Calif., is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees.

 

Later on Dec. 19, 2022, SNP officials said defendants, Martin Villanueva-Flores, of Visalia, Calif., Ricardo Torres, of Grandview, Wash., and Francisco Valdez, of Spokane, Wash., were arrested during a sale of fentanyl to an undercover officer in a parking lot of the Sheridan Hotel, located at 1440 Sheridan Boulevard in the Longwood section of The Bronx.

 

SNP officials said members of NYDETF Group T-23 recovered around 50,000 multi-colored, fentanyl pills marked M30 and over 13 pounds of fentanyl in powder form from a suitcase that Torres allegedly retrieved from a GMC Sierra HD Denali. Agents and officers also recovered a semi-automatic pistol from the vehicle, which bore California license plates and was registered to Valdez.

 

All three defendants are charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree. Valdez is also charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Officials said the fentanyl carried an estimated street value of $2.8 million.

 

On Dec. 27, 2022, SNP officials said the its investigation unit and members of NYDETF Group T-22 seized approximately 20,000 multi-colored fentanyl pills and over 6 pounds of powdered fentanyl, concealed in a cardboard diapers box. They said the fentanyl, estimated to carry a street value of $1.3 million, was recovered from a Ford Bronco with Florida license plates.

 

According to the SNP, the seizure and arrest occurred in a Wendy’s Parking Lot at 5805 Broadway in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx, and defendant, Sergio Velasquez, of Manassas, Va., allegedly had his 12-year-old daughter with him in the vehicle at the time. Officials said Velasquez is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees and unlawfully dealing with a child in the first degree.

 

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said seizing illegal narcotics was integral to the NYPD’s mission of protecting the city and its people. “I commend our NYPD investigators, New York City’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, the DEA, and all of our law enforcement partners for their herculean work this year,” she said. “I know that through our continuing collaboration we’ll gain even more momentum, holding criminals accountable and keeping New Yorkers safe in the year ahead.”

 

For his part, New York State Police Acting Superintendent Steven A. Nigrelli commended what he described as the diligent efforts of all the partners involved in the seizures of record amount of drugs over the past year. “Each arrest, each seizure is saving lives and decreases the additional crime that surrounds these illegal and dangerous drug operations,” he said. “There is zero tolerance for those who sell deadly, illegal drugs, and we will continue to aggressively target and disrupt these trafficking organizations, and put those responsible behind bars.”

 

Nationwide, SNP officials said the DEA seized over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2022. They said the DEA laboratory estimates that these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl, which is enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill every American.

 

They said most of the fentanyl trafficked by the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels is being mass produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely from China. In 2021, the DEA issued a public safety alert on the widespread drug trafficking of fentanyl in the form of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills.

SNP officials said such pills are made to look identical to real prescription medications, including OxyContin®, Percocet®, and Xanax® but only contain filler and fentanyl, and are often deadly. They said fake pills are readily found on social media and that no pharmaceutical pill bought on social media is safe. They also said that the only safe medications are ones prescribed directly to patients by a trusted medical professional and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist.

 

In August 2022, Norwood News reported how over 13 pounds of heroin/fentanyl were seized at a drug packaging mill in Bedford Park. In 2019, Norwood News reported that 16 men and two women, including at least two suspects connected to Kingsbridge Heights and University Heights, were arrested in the South Bronx following a drug seizure worth $7 million on May 28 that year. They were charged with dealing heroin and enough fentanyl to “kill the population of New York.”

 

As above, those arrested allegedly had ties to the Sinaloa cartel, formerly led by El Chapo who, as reported, was found guilty on July 17, 2019, on ten federal charges, including murder conspiracies, engaging a continuing criminal enterprise and other drug-related charges.

 

Guzman appealed the decision, but in 2022, the conviction was upheld by a U.S. appeals court that, according to the Associated Press, praised the trial judge for his handling of the case which had drawn international attention.

 

As also reported, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the City’s health commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, announced new measures to reduce the number of overdoses in New York City on Aug. 5, 2022. They said they intend to reverse what they said was the staggering increase in overdose deaths since 2020 by expanding access to technology that tests pre-obtained drugs for fentanyl and other possibly lethal substances. They plan to do this at sites running syringe service programs (SSP) co-located at overdose prevention centers (OPC).

 

In June 2021, we also reported how NYPD officers were able to intervene, using their training to successfully administer the drug, Narcan, to a man, preventing him from dying from an accidental overdose when they discovered him at Kingsbridge Road subway station.

On Aug. 8, we reported how $5 million of street-ready heroin and fentanyl was seized from a Bronx packaging mill in the Crotona section of the borough.

 

Separately, a major drug takedown also occurred in the Mt. Hope section of The Bronx in late June, which involved the seizure of around 110 kilograms of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, plus 50 pounds of a substance believed to be crystal meth, and up to 75,000 counterfeit pills believed to contain fentanyl. The drugs, which law enforcement officials said were intended for citywide distribution, carried an estimated street value of approximately $24 million.

 

Last month, DEA alerted the public to a sharp nationwide increase in the lethality of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills. SNP officials said DEA laboratory testing in 2022 revealed that six out of ten fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, and that this is an increase from the agency’s announcement in 2021 that four out of ten fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills contain a potentially deadly dose.

 

DEA provides a regularly updated counter at http://www.dea.gov to track approximate amounts of fentanyl pills and fentanyl powder seized by the agency. It has also created a “Faces of Fentanyl” memorial to commemorate the lives lost to fentanyl poisoning. To submit a photo of a loved one lost to fentanyl, family members can send the person’s name, age, and photograph to fentanylawareness@dea.gov, or post a photo and name to social media using the hashtag #JustKNOW.