Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York Bridget G. Brennan, Special Narcotics Prosecutor

80 CENTRE STREET, SIXTH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10013 212-815-0400, GEN. 212-815-0440, FAX

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE        
April 27, 2010                                                 CONTACTS:

                                                                        Kati Cornell
                                                                        Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office
                                                                        (212) 815-0525

                                                                        Paul J. Browne
                                                                        New York City Police Department
                                                                        (646) 610-6700

SEVENTY POUNDS OF COCAINE AND NINE FIREARMS SEIZED FROM STASH HOUSES IN BROOKLYN AND QUEENS: FOUR ARRESTED

New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan and New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly announced today the arrests of three members of a cocaine trafficking ring and one drug customer. A search of two stash houses used by the organization on Monday, April 26, yielded a total of more than 70 pounds of cocaine with a street value of up to $10 million and nine firearms, including three assault weapons.

On Monday, detectives with the NYPD’s Manhattan North Narcotics Bureau observed one member of the organization sell 25 grams of cocaine to a customer at approximately 3 p.m. in front of 1738 Greene Ave. in Ridgewood, Queens. Pursuant to a search warrant, officers searched a basement apartment at that address a short time later and found 33 pounds of cocaine inside a suitcase and more than six pounds of cocaine in a washing machine. Drug paraphernalia, including scales and equipment for packaging, was also found in the apartment and officers retrieved a loaded handgun from a kitchen cabinet.

Further investigation led detectives to a second stash house in a second-floor apartment at 322 Weirfield St. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where they uncovered drugs and a small arsenal of guns hidden inside a plant stand and a pair of speakers. The plant stand had been fitted with an electrically-operated trap with more than 30 pounds of cocaine inside. One of the speakers contained a tote-bag stuffed with seven weapons, including two Uzis, five handguns and two silencers. The second speaker was filled with numerous boxes of ammunition. An AK-47 had been hidden under a mattress and a bullet-proof vest was also in the apartment.

The head of the organization, Carlos Rivera, was arrested on Greene Avenue. Rivera was in possession of keys to both apartments and $3,800 in cash. His right-hand man, Ray Augirre, was apprehended inside the Queens apartment, while a third member of the organization, Gabriel Valderrama, and a buyer, Pedro Santana, were on a nearby street.

The charges and allegations are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.