Police Bust Massive Drug Ring In Bed-Stuy, Manhattan, Nassau County

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Police have arrested 11 men, five from Brooklyn, in connection with a long-term investigation into drug trafficking in the Bed-Stuy Roosevelt Houses public housing complex, and elsewhere in the NYC metro area, according to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York.

On Thursday morning, police from North Brooklyn's narcotics unit arrested eight men in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Nassau County, they said. They seized four loaded guns, over two kilograms of powder and crack cocaine, 500 grams of heroin and around 27 pounds of marijuana from Bed-Stuy houses on Greene Avenue and Hart Street and from 7 St. James Place in the Alfred E. Smith Houses in Lower Manhattan, they said.

Police also took over $110,000 in cash and luxury cars, including a Bentley, BMA and Cadillac from those locations, a stash house in Breukelen Houses in Canarsie and a house in Woodmere, Nassau County, the special narcotics prosecutor's office said.

In May 2016, NYPD officers charged brothers John and Jonathan Gonzalez with operating a drug operation in the Roosevelt Houses in Bed-Stuy after making almost two dozen undercover purchases of crack cocaine from their drug ring, according to the special narcotics prosecutor's office. That investigation led police to identify a group of other drug traffickers operating in Brooklyn who were allegedly supplying the Gonzalez brothers.

The NYPD was led to several of the arrests by wiretaps, for which it received warrants approved by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, it said. Police heard through wiretaps that the Gonzalez brothers and others in their drug ring were allegedly going to rob another drug trafficker in Rochester, New York of a safe with money, drugs and a gun.

On Oct. 18, 2016, Jonathan Gonzalez allegedly instructed his brother to take guns out of a stove at their apartment. On Friday morning, police seized two loaded guns from the stove of their apartment, they said.

On Dec. 27, 2016, NYPD officers established surveillance at 725 Greene Ave. after learning of a planned narcotics transaction discussed by two defendants in intercepted calls, according to the special narcotics prosecutor of New York. Police seized 861 grams of cocaine worth over $32,000 from them through intercepting their communications, the special prosecutor said. Police on Friday also seized a loaded gun and over 700 grams of cocaine from the same residence, according to the special prosecutor's office.

The defendants — John, Pablo and Jonathan Gonzalez, Adele Chance, Patrick Day, Mason McAllister, Sampson Sanders, Timothy Fenner, James Allen, Terrell Warren and Van Snipes — were all charged with variations of conspiracy, criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, according to the special prosecutor.

Photos of the seized contraband and money are below:

Photos via NYPD