Photo Courtesy of DA Katz
“We will hold accountable anyone threatening the safety of our neighborhoods,” DA Katz said.
By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz on Tuesday announced that an investigation in collaboration with the NYPD has led to drug and gun trafficking charges being filed against eight men and the seizure of narcotics with a street value of more than $1 million. Three of the defendants are charged as major drug traffickers. The year-and-a-half-long investigation was sparked by violence and drug sales in and around Rufus King Park in Jamaica.
“We allege these men were significant drug and gun traffickers who were a grave threat to public safety as peddlers of death and addiction. We will hold accountable anyone threatening the safety of our neighborhoods,” Katz said. “We are grateful to the brave undercovers who worked with us on this case. I also want to thank the New York State Police and Nassau County Police for their help. My team and I look forward to prosecuting this case on behalf of the communities we serve.”
Through a long-term wiretap investigation authorized by Katz and supervised by members of her office, the police intercepted numerous communications in which the defendants openly discussed their illegal activities and were able to secure search warrants for the defendants’ residences at 85th Street in Brooklyn; 161st Street in Jamaica; and Acre Lane in Hicksville, L.I. Law enforcement seized the following from these locations:
– Two 9mm firearms
– One stolen 357 Magnum Revolver
– One 40 caliber firearm
– More than 3 pounds of cocaine
– More than 1 pound of fentanyl
– More than 1.5 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms
– 1,337 Adderall pills
– 797 Oxycodone pills (30 mg)
– 485 Xanax pills
– 334 Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) pills
– One car
– More than $67,000 in cash
In addition to the drugs and guns recovered during the raids of residences in Queens, Brooklyn and Nassau County, undercover agents bought cocaine and ecstasy from at least one of the defendants on 40 occasions and purchased five handguns from at least one of the defendants over the course of the investigation conducted by District Attorney Katz’s office and the NYPD’s Queens South Violent Crime Squad.
“The NYPD’s fight against the trafficking of illegal guns and illicit narcotics in our city is at the forefront of our public-safety mission. The defendants in this case showed a callous disregard for human life, and we will never waver in our efforts to hold them – and anyone else who threatens the people we serve – fully accountable,” City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. “I want to thank our NYPD investigators, the Office of the Queens District Attorney, the New York State Police, and the Nassau County Police Department for their work on this important case.”
The defendants:
- Adrian Escobar, a.k.a. King Mango, 33, of Brooklyn, is the leader of the organization. In one indictment he is charged with operating as a major trafficker;
- Junior Escobar, 20, of Jamaica;
- Jose Escobar, 26, of the Bronx;
- Jonathan Fernandez, 31, of Brooklyn;
- Joseph Fernandez, 33, of Brooklyn;
- Jonathan Suarez, 33, of Hicksville;
- Juan Escobar, 18, of Jamaica;
- Manuel Gomez, 43, of Jamaica;
Jose, Juan and Junior Escobar are brothers; Adrian Escobar is their cousin. Jonathon and Joseph Fernandez are brothers.
