Several Queens men have been charged for their roles in a Brooklyn-based ring that smuggled and sold various narcotics, including a potentially dangerous new drug referred to as “White China,” across state lines for almost one year, prosecutors announced.
Warren Appolon, 46, of Jamaica, Joseph Raffone, 38, of Ridgewood and Gregory Boyd-Davis, 33, of Queens Village were among 34 defendants who were busted in Brooklyn for being a part of a narcotics distribution ring that spanned from New York City, some upstate New York counties and Phoenix, AZ, selling cocaine, heroin and furanyl fentanyl, otherwise known as “White China,” between June 2016 and March 2017.
According to the charges, Appolon was receiving shipments of cocaine and heroin to his house in Jamaica from Nigel Maloney, who operates out of Phoenix. Appolon also was allegedly receiving addition shipments of cocaine and furanyl fentanyl, a highly potent opiate that can be stronger than similar drugs and is often cheaper than heroin, from additional suppliers to provide drugs to the dealers.
According to the charges, the drugs and the money from the sales were hidden in a variety of places, including under floor boards and in storage rooms. They alleged sold and transported the drugs out of vehicles that were equipped with hiding spaces for the drugs and would often arrange transactions over the phone or through text messages.
Over the course of the investigation, a total of 2.455 kilograms of cocaine, 1.704 kilograms of heroin and 4.581 kilograms of furanyl fentanyl were recovered, as well as 17 operational firearms.
Furanyl fentanyl is not currently listed as a controlled substance under New York State law, however it is considered one under federal law.
The defendants were variously charged on a 357-count indictment with first-, second- and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, first-, second- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second- and fourth-degree conspiracy and related counts. If convicted, they could spend up to 20 years in jail.
” Those who push these deadly poisons on our streets, concerned only with their own lucrative profits, devastate the communities where they operate and feed the disease of addiction, which ultimately touches all of us,” Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said. “Drug analogs, like the furanyl fentanyl in this case, highlight a dangerous gap in our narcotics laws that we will work to address with our partners in Albany.”
