Three men were arrested for allegedly running a "traveling heroin mill" in a Manhattan apartment building—right across the street from a public school. The DEA, NYC's Special Narcotics Prosecutor's office and NYPD announced the arrests, plus the seizure of between 1.5 and 3 kilograms of glassine envelopes filled with what they believe is heroin laced with fentanyl.
According to authorities, the raid took place on Thursday. Members from the three agencies, who had been surveilling 575 West 177th Street, which is across the street from P.S. 115, approached Andres Cordero and Jose Luis Lugo, who had left an apartment in the building.
Cordero and Lugo were allegedly about to get into a livery cab, but DEA agents and investigators say they found them with "a plastic bag wrapped with blue tape containing approximately 100 grams of heroin."
(Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office)
After getting a search warrant, a grey suitcase and a red duffle bag were found in a bedroom closet, with "5,000 prepackaged glassines of heroin/fentanyl and three clear plastic bags containing tan powdery substance, weighing one and a half to three kilograms from the red duffle bag. Ten boxes of empty glassines, rolls of duct tape, nail filler and plastic bags with residue were also recovered from inside the red duffle bag. The grey suitcase contained more supplies traditionally used with heroin mills, including ink pads with ink refills, scotch tape, grinders, sifters, 13 kilo stamps," according to a press release.
There were also stamps, apparently to brand the glassines as "Daily News," "Godzilla," "Planet of the Apes," "Empire," "Stink Face," "Spiderman," "X-men" and "Showtime."
(Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office)
Cordero, Lugo and Anaury Burgos, who had been inside the apartment, were charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a criminal substance.
"Given its lethal potential, it is especially frightening to find a fentanyl packaging operation in an apartment building directly across from an elementary school," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said in a statement. "We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to upend criminal organizations promoting death and addiction."
DEA Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt also characterized the suitcase as a "traveling heroin mil," saying, "This organization had the capability to move quickly to other strategic locations in the city. In this case, law enforcement was able to shut down their operation which had set up shop directly across from P.S. 115."
