Thirteen people, including men from Corning and Painted Post, have been arrested for their alleged roles in a New York City-based drug trafficking ring after federal agents seized several hundred kilos of cocaine.
On June 12, law enforcement officers, including the New York State Police, DEA and FBI, conducted searches at 24 locations in New York and New Jersey as part of an operation to break up a drug trafficking network that shipped drugs from California to New York City and then Upstate New York.
The searches resulted in the seizure of almost 250 kilos of cocaine, fentanyl pills, other drugs and paraphernalia, a firearm and more than $1 million in cash, law enforcement officials said. Arrests were also made in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Michael Harper, aka “Miz,” 38, of Corning, along with Anthony Medina, aka “Tank” and “Fatboy,” 28, of Painted Post, were among the 13 people charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
Nearly all of the defendants have been charged with offenses that carry a minimum term of 10 years and up to life in prison if convicted, said United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III.
“Using an all-hands-on-deck approach, we have smashed a sophisticated, New York City-based drug trafficking organization that was pumping poison into our Upstate New York communities,” Sarcone said.
The June 12 searches and arrests came after an 18-month-long investigation in which law enforcement seized more than 240 kilos of cocaine, 185 pounds of methamphetamine, and almost 700 pounds of marijuana.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino said over the past year and a half, the DEA team and its partners successfully targeted the Abdelhak drug trafficking organization “which has plagued and poisoned our communities here in New York and across the Northeastern corridor with illicit narcotics.”
“This network’s reach was expansive – moving drugs from California to sell in communities within the Capital Region, North Country, Central New York, Western New York, and New York City,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig A. Tremaroli. “But the reach of our federal task forces is deeper, and these 13 individuals learned the hard way that the FBI, together with our law enforcement partners, will not stand idly by while criminals pedal drugs on our streets.”
The Elmira Police Department was credited with assisting the investigation locally.
Also charged were:
The case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation, which aims to identify, disrupt and dismantle high-level criminal organizations.
This article originally appeared on The Leader: Corning, Painted Post men arrested for alleged roles in NYC-based drug trafficking ring
Reporting by Jeff Smith, Corning Leader / The Leader
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
