Massive Heroin Ring Was Run From Brooklyn Shopping Center: DA

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — The largest-known heroin trafficking ring in a Long Island county's history was run out of a shopping center in East New York by two men from Brooklyn, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Ringleaders Luis Rivera and Orlando Rodriguez were among 15 people arrested Tuesday in a massive takedown of the heroin ring by Nassau County officials, who seized more than $1 million worth of heroin and more than $1.2 million in cash from the traffickers.

The ring — which spread throughout Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau and Suffolk counties in Long Island — was run by Rivera and Rodriguez for years out of East New York's massive Gateway Shopping Center, the prosecutors said.

"This massive operation has dismantled the largest-known heroin trafficking operation in Nassau County, disrupting the flow of this deadly poison into our communities," Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said. "Heroin from this syndicate has been linked to at least three fatal overdoses, and we know that putting these alleged traffickers out of business will save lives."

Heroin originally distributed by Rivera is connected to 15 overdoses — 13 in Nassau and two in Suffolk — Singas said. Three of the overdoses in Nassau were fatal.

Dealers, 13 of whom were charged Tuesday, would travel from towns throughout Long Island to the Gateway Center to buy drugs from Rivera and Rodriguez in its parking lot, prosecutors said.

The two ringleaders, who are thought to be cousins, sold between 1,300 and 2,600 bundles of heroin every month to 74 different customers. As prosecutors were investigating the past four months, it was bringing in about $30,000 in profits per week, a total of $230,000 in heroin and cocaine sales, prosecutors said.

When police searched Rivera and Rodriguez' Brooklyn home, which they shared, they found more than $383,000 in cash, another $830,200 in cash in safety deposit boxes, 963 grams of heroin with a street value of $325,000 and 175 pairs of Jordan sneakers.

Singas said that Rivera and Rodriguez used a stash house in Flushing to store their drugs.

Of the ring's 74 customers, 54 have been identified as coming from Nassau County, 16 from Suffolk County and five from New York City.

The investigation is still ongoing and that more charges are likely, Singas added.

"We are in the midst of a serious nationwide addiction crisis, and every single bust makes a difference," said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. "...We are not taking our foot off the gas. Together, we will continue our commitment to rid our streets of this poison and keep historic low crime rates in Nassau County."

To read a list of those who were charged click here.

Patch reporter Alex Costello originally reported this story.