Photo Courtesy of the Attorney General’s Office
According to Schneiderman, the network allegedly trafficked heroin cut with ketamine and cocaine on a daily basis to various parts of city.
By Forum Staff
Ten men, including three borough residents, have been indicted for their alleged roles in a prolific heroin distribution ring operating in Queens, Brooklyn, and surrounding areas in New York, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and City Police Commissioner Jim O’Neill recently announced.
The network allegedly trafficked heroin cut with ketamine – an animal tranquilizer—as well as cocaine, on a daily basis to various parts of the five boroughs.
According to Schneiderman, over the course of the investigation, which was led by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force and the NYPD Brooklyn North Gang Squad, authorities seized more than 600 glassines of controlled substances, including heroin and ketamine. Dubbed “Operation Times Up” after investigators recovered glassines that were proprietarily branded with the stamp “Times Up.” These stamps, according to investigators, were the calling card of Christopher Quinones, the leader of the multi-county criminal organization. The branding signaled to buyers that these drugs originated from him.
Wiretaps also caught the defendants allegedly discussing their drug transactions in a cryptic and coded manner in the hope of avoiding detection by law enforcement, referring to heroin as donuts and cocaine as cookies, Schneiderman noted.
“Heroin is killing Americans at an alarming rate. The ten arrests made this morning on heroin-related charges in New York City is the precision policing that saves lives,” O’Neill said. “I want to thank the NYPD detectives and the investigators from the Attorney General’s Office for their work that led to today’s arrests.”
According to authorities, the 89-count indictment, unsealed last Wednesday in court, charged three suspects – borough residents Raphael Rodriguez and Saul Drullard, and Staten Island’s Melvin Nieves – with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, a class A-II felony, which carries a mandatory sentencing range of 3 to 10 years in state prison.
Additionally, all defendants, including Pablo Rodriguez of Queens, were charged with counts of criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance, class B felonies, which carries a mandatory sentencing range of 1 to 9 years in state prison; and with conspiracy in the second degree, also a class B felony.
Schneiderman noted that the central target in the conspiracy, Christopher Quinones, is facing 40 separate charges for criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance charges.
“Dangerous drug trafficking rings like what we have allegedly uncovered during Operation Times Up threaten the safety and stability of our communities. We won’t hesitate to crackdown and prosecute drug kingpins to the fullest extent of the law when they fuel the vicious cycle of addiction across New York State,” the attorney general said.
In October, Schneiderman and State Police Superintendant George Beach announced the indictment of 14 people, including a Richmond Hill man, for their roles in an alleged heroin and cocaine trafficking ring that spanned New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Florida, and Puerto Rico.
