Bust $25M heroin ring in Kew Gardens

U.S. and Colombian authorities arrested 56 members of an international drug ring that smuggled $25 million worth of heroin from South America to the streets of Queens and the Bronx, and for the first time, big bosses, distributors and &#8220mules,” were netted in the same coordinated operation, federal authorities said.
&#8220Operation Double Identity,” was a joint takedown operation of a complex heroin trafficking organization – that extended from the jungles of Colombia to the streets of New York. It began in the summer of 2004 and resulted in the capture of 56 people – 26 in Colombia and 30 in the United States. Additionally, the operation seized 257 pounds of heroin along with nearly $3 million in cash and some jewelry. Authorities also crushed a &#8220mules” network that worked out of Cali, Pereira and Bogot, Colombia transporting the drugs to the United States.
According to John P. Gilbride, the Special Agent in Charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in New York and Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, along with Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner of New York City Police Department, and Wayne E. Bennett, working collectively as the New York City Drug Enforcement Task Force (the DEA Task Force) the probe represented &#8220a new model” in international drug investigation by drawing heavily on the work of the Colombian National Police.
The National Police help came at a high price -nine Colombian officers working on the investigation were assassinated last month by a Colombian military brigade, allegedly under the orders of drug dealers - especially the Northern Valle cartel.
&#8220Today (Wednesday, June 21) 56 members of this powerful heroin trafficking organization are in custody as a result of the coordinated efforts of the DEA Task Force and Colombian authorities. This organization used highly sophisticated smuggling methods to bring its heroin into the United States and ultimately to the streets of New York City. They hid heroin in virtually everything, but the kitchen sink – in furniture shipments, the soles of sandals, and golf bags, and used human ‘swallowers’ to smuggle heroin pellets to the U.S. onboard commercial airliners,” Gilbride said.
During the investigation, the DEA Task Force, the DEA Bogot, Colombia office and Colombian authorities gathered evidence against the nine leaders of the organization based in Cali, Colombia, who controlled the heroin supply.
In Queens the operation conducted raids at 80-08 and 91-10 135th Street in Kew Gardens. Among those arrested were Nstor Jaime Ocampo-Moreno; Vivian Moreno-Quintero; Roberto Soto-Beltrn; Jaime Londoo and 10 associates – who were responsible for receiving shipments of heroin from Colombia and then distributing the narcotics, and Jose Rodriguez-Nieves, also known as &#8220Cuba,” who ran the gang’s business in the Bronx. After &#8220Cuba” and 15 members of his crew were arrested, almost $3 million in profits was seized, according to Erin McKenzie-Mulvey, of the New York DEA communications office.