Photo Courtesy of Google
One of Pineda’s Flushing gambling dens was located on College Point Boulevard near Maple Avenue (second from l.)
By Forum Staff
The alleged leader of a large, Flushing-based methamphetamine distribution organization was arrested on Thursday, according to federal officials.
Anthony Pineda, 36, was arraigned and ordered detained pending trial. Fourteen additional members were previously arrested and arraigned on four indictments unsealed last month in Brooklyn federal court.
According to charging documents, Pineda allegedly led the distribution organization from his illegal gambling parlors in Flushing. Pineda allegedly obtained large quantities of meth in California and transported the drugs to New York for wholesale and retail distribution. His co-defendants include large-scale and street-level meth pushers, as well as Pineda’s partners in the illegal gambling operation, federal prosecutors said.
Pineda allegedly protected his illegal operations with threats and violence. In 2017, he threatened a competing gambling parlor owner with a gun and referred to a “high-voltage cattle prod” that a co-conspirator could use to collect a debt.
When Pineda was arrested on Thursday, federal officers recovered a pound of meth and approximately $27,000 in cash in the apartment in which he was residing.
“Drug dealers are trying to turn New York into the next methamphetamine wasteland,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.
“Distributing on both a large scale and street level, Pineda and his co-defendants carelessly endangered our communities,” added FBI-NY Assistant Director-in-Charge Bill Sweeney. “These individuals operated on opposite sides of the nation – but with the help of our fellow law enforcement agencies, [Thursday’s] arrests show that expansiveness never inhibits justice.”
