'I Saw Them Out There Barbecuing,' Neighbors Shocked By West Babylon Fentanyl Bust
WEST BABYLON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Federal investigators stormed a residential Long Island home allegedly used to turn out the deadly drug fentanyl, which is driving the overdose epidemic.
DEA agents said inside, they arrested two men wearing hazmat suits to protect themselves from the toxic drug they were mixing.
As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, federal drug enforcement agents released photos showing the two suspects wearing top of the line protective hazmat suits.
They took the pictures right after arresting Frankie Morano and Daniel O'Neal inside of a garage next to their home. They were allegedly caught in the act of using a small press to pack fentanyl into pill form.
Neighbors who witnessed the late night bust said they were shocked, adding that the two men had recently moved into the home on Little East Neck Road in West Babylon, and were rarely ever seen.
"We saw the cops, the DEA, we saw the door was busted in the back," Patty Adamo said.
Last night, Patty Adamo and her family looked right across their backyard, frightened by the flood of officers.
"It was pretty crazy, right behind out house, you never suspected that would happen," Dan Adamo added.
Patty said the one time she recently saw the men it seemed like they would be friendly neighbors.
"I never suspected, I saw them out there barbecuing, and they waved to us, and we waved back and that was it," she said.
Agents charged the men were churning out hundreds of pills laced with fentanyl -- considered a hundred times stronger than morphine -- it can be lethal just by touching it.
Neighbors watched as agents seized evidence.
"I heard them say, 'get the bag and the pills and the machine," Patty said.
Fentanyl is now the leading cause of opioid overdoses as dealers use it to lace heroin for addicts chasing a deadly high.
Agents said they are still investigating where the defendants arrested in their hazmat suits got the toxic brew.
Agents said they were tipped off by a source who then secretly recorded the defendants allegedly planning to distribute the drug within the community.
