Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Clement Bucco-Lechat
The crew allegedly used coded terms to describe the potency or quality of their heroin. For example, high-quality heroin was dubbed “Lambo” (Lamborghini).
By Forum Staff
Six men recently were arrested for their roles in a heroin distribution ring that ran the highly addictive narcotic in South Ozone Park and the East New York and Bushwick sections of Brooklyn, according to federal prosecutors.
Three of the six suspects hail from Queens: Ramon Sanabria, 48, South Ozone Park; Melvin Sanabria, 42, East Rockaway; and Alex Aybar, 47, Bayside.
According to the indictment, complaint and other court filings, the men regularly acquired kilograms of heroin to process, repackage and distribute on the streets of South Ozone Park and Brooklyn. They routinely tested the quality of the heroin to ensure it was sufficiently potent. On one occasion, as captured in court-authorized messages, defendant Dino Sanchez, 40, of East New York, texted Melvin Sanabria using coded terms to indicate he had a “bentley” and a “phantom” for Sanabria. Thereafter, in a court-authorized intercepted call, Sanabria complained that a subsequent sample Sanchez provided was inferior quality, stating, “I don’t rent hondas or acuras … around here we drive benz and lambos.”
On Wednesday morning, law enforcement executed search warrants at three of the defendants’ residences in Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island, two additional stash houses and two vehicles, and seized over four kilograms of heroin, three firearms (including one with a defaced serial number), more than $100,000 in U.S. currency and various drug paraphernalia, including over 10,000 glassine envelopes.
If convicted, the six suspects face mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years’ imprisonment and up to life imprisonment.
