Reputed Drug Kingpin Carlos Medina, 10 Others Arrested
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The alleged ringleader and 10 members of a drug trafficking organization have been arrested.
As WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported, the reputed kingpin, Carlos Medina, served nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted on federal drug charges in 1986. Medina was arrested at his home in Yonkers on Thursday morning and has been indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy, criminal sale of a controlled substance and attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance. More charges could follow.
A yearlong wiretap investigation revealed that Medina, who was still on parole, routinely drove from his former home in Queens to the Bronx and Manhattan, picking up drugs and meeting with customers along the way, prosecutors said. A search of a stash house in the Bronx turned up two loaded guns and a large supply of cocaine concealed in a hidden trap in a Jacuzzi, authorities said. More cocaine was found near a pigeon coop on the roof, according to authorities. Police also found $40,000 in cash and a drug ledger in Medina's home, prosecutors said.
Medina, 59, is also accused of using the U.S. Postal Service to import large shipments of heroin and cocaine from Puerto Rico.
Bridget Brennan, the city's special narcotics prosecutors, said Medina also tried to pressure an undercover detective into selling drugs for him. He supplied the cop with $12,000 worth of heroin with orders to sell the drugs. "Now you work for me," Medina said, according to prosecutors. "We'll split the profits."
The other 10 people arrested are accused of conspiring to smuggle and distribute large quantities of cocaine and heroin in New York City and Connecticut
Brennan said the arrest marks the end of the large-scale narcotics organization that was trying to expand through intimidation.
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