Photo Courtesy of DA Katz
The two kilos of fentanyl allegedly recovered from Carrol’s trunk.
By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Monday that a Long Island man has been indicted by a grand jury after U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents stopped his car in Hollis last month and allegedly found two kilos of fentanyl in the trunk.
Dennis Carrol, 31, was arraigned on Monday on a three-count indictment charging him with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.
The District Attorney’s Major Narcotics Unit of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau, in conjunction with the DEA’s New York Division, conducted an investigation utilizing court-authorized surveillance of the defendant’s activities during the month of November.
Based on the intelligence gathered, DEA agents conducted a car stop at 188th Street in Hollis as Carrol was driving along Hillside Avenue on Nov. 28 at approximately 3:30 p.m. A search of the vehicle turned up two plastic bags containing roughly two kilograms of fentanyl, with a street value of $80,000; enough to produce approximately 20,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills. A recent bulletin from the DEA indicated that in 2022, six out of ten counterfeit pills contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.
DEA Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division Frank Tarentino said, “Fentanyl is the most dangerous illicit drug on the street today and it presents the most serious threat to public health and safety in the United States. In 2021, 107,622 Americans died from drug poisonings and over 66 percent are directly related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Seizures like this demonstrate DEA’s dedication and commitment to working with our law enforcement colleagues to bring to justice those who continue to flood our city streets with poison. I applaud the work of DEA New York Division Group D-41, with assistance provided by the NY/NJ Port Authority Police Department, the New York Strike Force Financial Investigation Team, along with our strong partnership with the Queens District Attorney’s Office.”
Katz said there have been 315 suspected fatal overdose cases across Queens County so far in 2022, an estimated 50-percent increase from the same time last year. An overwhelming majority of these deaths, approximately 76.3 percent, have been attributed to fentanyl.
“Overdose fatalities are up more than 50 percent in Queens this year and three of every four of those deaths are attributed to fentanyl and fentanyl derivatives. That is why this case is important and why my office will continue to work relentlessly to get this poison and its merchants off of our streets,” Katz said. “I am proud of the work of my Major Economic Crimes team in this case. And I would like to thank our partners at the DEA for their help, as well as their commitment to keeping our communities safe.”
Carrol is accused of transporting the narcotics from Suffolk County to Queens for the purpose of selling the drugs for profit. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.
