DEA Smashes Fentanyl Ring Near Yankee Stadium

$2.5 Million Fake Oxy Pill Mill

Narcotics-detection K-9 German Shepherd "Jet" poses for a photo with the confiscated pills, most recovered in a boiler-room of a building on Woodycrest Avenue in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. -Photo courtesy of the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York.

By David Greene 

Bronx Voice 

April 3, 2023

 

BRONX - Seven men and one woman are facing conspiracy and drug possession charges, while an eighth man is facing weapons possession charges, after officials announced they smashed an interstate Fentanyl ring based in Highbridge near Yankee Stadium.

 

On March 29, Bridget Brenan from the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York announced the arrests after a nearly 2-year investigation that involved reviewed wiretaps approved by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr.

 

 

Officials say eight of the individuals were manufacturing counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl and operating in Manhattan, the Bronx, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Members of the DEA, working in conjunction with the NYPD's Narcotics unit, seized over 26,000 pills containing fentanyl, 2 kilograms of powdered fentanyl, nearly 50,000 pills containing methamphetamine as well as 3 kilograms of powdered cocaine.

Law enforcement officials say most of the counterfeit pills confiscated contained fentanyl. -Photo courtesy of the Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York.

 

The seized drugs had an estimated street value of $2.5 million, a majority of the pills were recovered in an Feb. 16th raid of a boiler-room in a residential building at 901 Woodycrest Avenue.

 

Officials say it was a family business as they charged Edwin Cabrera, 39, his brother Elvis Cabrera, 35, their sister Jennifer Duran, 44, all of Manhattan, as well as an Uncle Miguel Castillo, 44, of Providence, RI.

 

Also charged were Frankie Rosario, 24, of Reading, P.A.; Juan DeJesus, 52, of Manhattan; Erick Sanchez, age unknown, of Manhattan; and Ruben Burgos, 38, also of Manhattan. 

Law enforcement officials also confiscated one handgun recovered during the course of the nearly 2-year investigation into an interstate counterfeit pill operation. -Photo courtesy of the Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York.

All seven face charges of conspiracy, criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance, weapons possession, and criminal facilitation.

Officials say that based on intercepted phone calls from the wiretap, Castillo was behind the wheel of a Kia Sorento on an undisclosed street in the Bronx when he was stopped by a New York State Trooper on January 9. The trooper used a narcotics-detection K-9 German Shepard named "Jet" who discovered a kilogram of cocaine inside the vehicle.

 

Officials pointed out that Elvis Cabrera is currently incarcerated on two separate sets of charges in Bronx County, including allegations that he was manufacturing counterfeit pills with a pill-pressing machine.

 

In a separate indictment, Jose Rodriguez was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm.

 

Special Agent Tarantino said, "This investigation underscores the dangers lurking on our streets in the form of fake fentanyl pills. Fentanyl and methamphetamine are being pressed into pills by local dealers like the Cabrera brothers." He added, "There is no difference between a pill mill in Mexico and a boiler-room in the Bronx, they both produce death.”

Officials say that The New York State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Rhode Island Safe Streets Task Force and the Bronx District Attorney all assisted in the investigation.

Charges against all of the defendants are merely accusations until proven guilty in a court of law.