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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York OCDETF Strike Force Smashes
International Heroin Ring In The Bronx

Law Enforcement Officers Seize 150,000 Glassines Of Heroin Worth More Than $6 Million, 7 Firearms, 150 Grinders Used To Manufacture Heroin For Retail Sale, 2 Money Counting Machines, And $250,000 Cash; 13 Members Of Ring Charged In Manhattan Federal Court

SAC Gilbride addresses members of the local media.

AUG 18--John P. Gilbride, the Special Agent in Charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in New York (“DEA”) announced today the complete dismantlement of a heroin manufacturing and distribution organization based in the Bronx, New York.

Yesterday afternoon, members of the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force comprised of DEA, NYPD, NYSP, ICE, FBI, and IRS, working together with members of NYPD’s Organized Crime Investigation Division (“OCID”), raided a house located at 31-66 Fenton Avenue, Bronx, New York. Inside the house, officers located an elaborate heroin manufacturing “mill,” and seized more than 150,000 glassines of heroin worth more than $6 million on New York City streets, 150 grinders used to manufacture heroin for retail sale, 7 firearms, 2 money counting machines, and approximately $250,000 in cash. Strike Force and OCID officers also arrested 13 members of the criminal organization who were manufacturing and packaging heroin in the mill at the time of the raid.

Secret passage to basement heroin mill sweatshop.

Special Agent in Charge John P. Gilbride stated: "This sweat shop was producing hundreds of thousands of glassine bags of heroin per week with an estimated street value of 6 million dollars. By dismantling this heroin sweat shop the availability of retail heroin in the Bronx has been significantly disrupted".

The raid conducted yesterday was carried out by Strike Force officers working with officers from OCID. On May 27, 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the opening of the Strike Force in Manhattan dedicated to identifying, targeting, and dismantling the world’s most sophisticated and powerful narcotics-trafficking organizations. The New York OCDETF Strike Force currently consists of more than 175 law enforcement officers from 6 different federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies as part of an effort to bring the combined resources and talents of the participating agencies to bear against the largest suppliers of illegal drugs to the United States.

NY heroin mill sweatshop.

Each of the 13 defendants arrested has been charged with federal narcotics-trafficking and firearms offenses in a Complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court. If convicted, the 13 charged defendants face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment on the narcotics-trafficking and firearms charges. The defendants will be presented in Manhattan federal court, 500 Pearl Street, 5th floor, later this afternoon.

The case is being prosecuted by the International Narcotics Trafficking Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. AUSA’s Amy Finzi and Glen G. McGorty are in charge of the prosecution.