The FBI has indicted 20 alleged heroin dealers who flooded Queens and Long Island with over 20 kilograms of junk over the course of the nine-month joint investigation, which was dubbed "Operation County Connection." In an early-morning raid, federal agents swooped in and made arrests at homes in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, as well as in Brooklyn and Queens. The distribution ring, which slung smack to a mostly suburban clientele, was allegedly run by 26-year-old Jose Perez, whom feds say imported the horse from the Dominican Republic and Mexico, then distributed from his headquarters in Woodhaven, Queens. And Perez had an eclectic cast of characters helping him, according to the indictment.
Among those arrested were Roland Stern, a retired member of the Suffolk County police department, and his daughter Corey, 37, who allegedly sold heroin in Patchogue, L.I. The Daily News reports that Kathryn Pappas, a college student at Hofstra who made the Dean's List in 2010, was also arrested, as was Dana Sollecito, who allegedly used the parking lot of her family's Massapequa restaurant to deal junk. Another suspect, Leonardo Lopez, is married to an NYPD officer, but there have been no charges against her husband.
The investigation was conducted in response to an alarming spike in heroin use on Long Island. Federal investigators say: "During the course of the investigation, law enforcement agents monitored hundreds of hours of court-ordered wiretaps, which documented numerous purchases and sales of heroin by the defendants, and conducted numerous controlled purchases of heroin. During the investigation, more than 5,400 individual doses of heroin were recovered from members of the Perez Organization." Over the course of the nine month probe, the ring allegedly sold heroin with a street value of at least $2.75 million.
"Heroin use among suburban teens is alarmingly popular, and today’s heroin is more potent and less expensive than ever," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk. "A potentially lethal dose can be purchased for about the cost of a pack of cigarettes or a six-pack of beer. If convicted of the heroin distribution conspiracy charge, each of the defendants faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment."
