Dec. 7, 2016 Staff Report
The NYPD and the Drug Enforcement Administration has made a series of arrests following an in investigation into a drug trafficking operation based out of the Queensbridge Houses involving crack cocaine, oxycodone and fentanyl.
Seven people have been indicted by the US District Attorney’s office for drug trafficking in relation to the Queensbridge Houses operation. Three others have been indicted by the Queens District Attorney for selling cocaine.
Investigators were able to piece together the case after getting court-authorized wiretaps of two of the defendants’ phones that revealed that over a nine-month period the group distributed more than 280 grams of crack cocaine.
Three of the defendants–Edward Carrillo, 43, Johnnie Monroe, 46, and one other– were also responsible for the trafficking of more than 400 grams of fentanyl and large amounts of oxycodone, according to the authorities.
The fentanyl sold out of the Queensbridge Houses was responsible for the death of a young mother in West Virginia, according to authorities.
Despite the woman’s death, the defendants continued to sell the pills, with one stating that the deadly pills would “feed up the projects.”
“Today’s arrests are the latest example of the success that can be achieved through federal, state, and local law enforcement cooperation to combat violence and narcotics trafficking in our communities,” said United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Robert L. Capers.
“The defendants wantonly distributed large quantities of addictive narcotics into our communities, some of which proved deadly. Even the death of a young mother did not stop their drug trafficking – but these arrests will.”
Carillo, Monroe, and one other defendant were also charged with an attempted armed robbery. They allegedly targeted someone traveling back to New York from West Virginia who they believed to be carrying more than $100,000 in drug money.
Though the individual never showed up, one defendant said they “would have taken him down” with their “biscuits” – a term the defendants used to refer to firearms.
The seven federally charged defendants were arraigned at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn Tuesday, and two of the state defendants were arraigned at the Queens County Supreme Court.
If convicted, the federal defendants face maximum sentences of life and defendants Carrillo, Monroe, and a co-conspirator face a minimum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for distributing the fentanyl that resulted in a death. If convicted, the state defendants face up to nine years in prison.
The U.S. Attorney released the names of the six defendants currently in custody. The federal defendants are Monroe; Carrillo; Terrell Carmichael, 31; and Michael Young, 32.
The state defendants are Mohamed Saleh, 30; and Shamar Stallworth, 31. All named defendants are from Long Island City except for Monroe, who is from Brooklyn, and Carrillo, from in Manhattan.
