Photo Courtesy of DEA
Search warrants netted approximately 150 grams of heroin, among other illicit items.
By Forum Staff
A criminal complaint was recently unsealed in Brooklyn federal court charging seven individuals, including a borough resident, with participating in a heroin-distribution ring operating in Williamsburg, the Bronx, and even Hawaii, according to prosecutors.
Robert Martinez, 34, of Maspeth, was arrested last Wednesday. If convicted, he faces anywhere from 10 years to up to life in prison.
As detailed in charging documents, since fall 2017, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and City Police Department detectives have been investigating the defendants’ drug trafficking ring. The investigation included physical surveillance, pen registers and communications intercepted pursuant to judicially authorized wiretaps. The pattern of the intercepted communications and the pen register data established that the seven suspects were in frequent contact nearly 2,000 times during one six-month period, and that the contacts were primarily narcotics-related text and/or phone conversation. During this time, the suspects regularly transported, repackaged and distributed heroin in the five boroughs. The ring was also responsible for shipping at least $7,000 worth of heroin to be sold in Hawaii over the course of several months. In total, the seven defendants sold more than a kilogram of heroin and bragged about its potency, referring to it as “fever” and “fire” in the communications with each other.
Last week, law enforcement executed search warrants at five of the suspects’ residences and, in total, recovered approximately 150 grams of heroin including at least 350 glassines packaged for sale on the streets; more than five pounds of marijuana; more than $20,000 in cash, more than 150 pairs of luxury sneakers valued at tens of thousands of dollars; and drug paraphernalia, including a kilogram press, multiple scales, hundreds of empty glassines, and stamps used to mark the glassines for sale. Agents and detectives also recovered a stolen, loaded .40-caliber Glock handgun and more than 80 rounds of additional ammunition from Martinez.
“As alleged, the defendants distributed opioids day after day in our community, feeding addiction without regard for the potentially lethal consequences of their actions,” said U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.
FBI New York Assistant Director-in-Charge Bill Sweeney added that the crew allegedly “enabled the cycle of addiction with their narcotics distribution enterprise spanning the country.”
“The epidemic of opioid abuse is a public health crisis,” Sweeney continued. “Those who choose to profit from trafficking in these potent narcotics show a flagrant disregard not just for the law, but for the safety of their communities.”
