Authorities Make Record-Breaking Heroin Bust In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Authorities have made a massive heroin bust in the Bronx -- the largest in New York state.
Over 70 kilograms of heroin, $2 million cash and a firearm were seized from a Chevy Suburban behind an apartment building in the Fieldstone section of the Bronx, near Horace Mann School, authorities said.
As 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported, DEA agents were watching as one of the suspects picked up the drugs from an industrial lot in Montville, New Jersey and brought it back to the stash house in Fieldstone.
"This was not a distribution organization, this was a major heroin importation organization," said NYC's Special Narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan.
The seizure is so massive -- with a street value of $50 million -- it could provide one dose for every man, woman and child in New York City, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported. It is the largest Drug Enforcement Administration heroin seizure in New York and the fourth largest seizure in the country.
"Six-hundred million dollars worth of drugs coming into New York, being sold on the street, and in essence, that amount of money is just bottoming right out of our economy," Brennan said. "Drug organizations throughout New York City and in the surrounding area will be scrambling to find heroin for quite some time."
DEA Agents arrested Jose Mercedes and Yenci Cruz Francisco, both of the Bronx, in connection with the seizure.
Brennan said the alleged ring leader has ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
Earlier this spring, cartel members allegedly traveled to the Bronx to oversee a delivery and took time to do some sightseeing in Times Square, Cornell reported.
It's estimated that the organization was receiving shipments of this size at least once a month, according to Brennan.
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