United States Drug Enforcement Administration

New York - Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) New York Enforcement Division, Farhana Islam, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), Jessica S. Tisch, announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging ARISTIDES CABRERA, a/k/a “Buddha,” with drug crimes resulting in the fatal poisoning of a 12 year-old child in the Bronx on June 28, 2022.  The Indictment also charges CABRERA with having used, carried, and possessed firearms in connection with his drug trafficking crimes.  Today, CABRERA was brought into federal custody from New York State custody, where he had been serving state sentences for other firearm and drug crimes.  CABRERA will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Jennifer E. Willis.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken.

“Weapons, drugs, and violence are too often the hallmarks of drug trafficking organizations operating in our communities,” said DEA New York Enforcement Division Special Agent in Charge Farhana Islam.  “Today’s indictment of Aristides Cabera underscores that deadly reality—linking narcotics distribution, firearms, and the devastating loss of a 12-year-old child to fentanyl poisoning.  No family should have to endure the pain of losing a child to this poison and the DEA New York Enforcement Division remains vigilant and unwavering in our mission to target these individuals and ensure justice is delivered.”

“As alleged, Aristides Cabrera was an armed drug dealer who pumped deadly drugs into the Bronx for years,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “The havoc that his alleged drug trafficking wrought did not stop at his own doorstep; it resulted in the tragic death of a vulnerable 12-year-old boy in Cabrera’s own home.  But even the boy’s death did not stop Cabrera from allegedly continuing to deal drugs, exposing others to the same life-threatening poison that claimed the life of an innocent child.  Fentanyl kills.  It kills children.  If you deal fentanyl, you are dealing death.  The women and men of the SDNY, the DEA, the NYPD and all our New York law enforcement partners will hold dealers of death accountable.”

“Aristedes Cabrera showed a callous disregard for human life, allegedly selling fentanyl in a home where a 12-year-old boy was exposed to the drugs that killed him,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch.  “This case is a devastating example of the danger fentanyl poses, especially when it is brought into a home where children are present.  I thank the NYPD officers whose undercover work helped build this case and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their partnership.”

As alleged in the Indictment and other public filings:[1]

From at least in or about November 2017 through at least in or about January 2024, CABRERA and his co-conspirators distributed heroin, fentanyl, and para-fluorofentanyl in the Bronx.  CABRERA sold large quantities of heroin and fentanyl to undercover law enforcement officers.  In a covert video recording of CABRERA during one of those undercover drug sales—in which CABRERA sold an undercover officer nearly $2,000 worth of fentanyl-laced heroin—CABRERA can be heard, in substance and in part, describing how he was charging higher prices for pills because “it’s a fucking opioid epidemic out here.”  At the height of his drug trafficking, CABRERA was making up to approximately $10,000 a week from dealing drugs.  

On June 28, 2022, exposure to the fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl distributed by CABRERA caused the death of a twelve-year-old boy who had been residing with CABRERA and others in an apartment in the Bronx. 

CABRERA kept significant quantities of his drugs in the apartment, including in a safe stored in a closet just outside of the bedroom that the twelve-year-old boy shared with at least one of his siblings.  CABRERA kept two guns in the same safe.  He also stored additional drugs, including pills, in the apartment’s primary bedroom, including in bags that he kept there.  In the early morning of June 29, 2022, after returning from the hospital where the twelve-year-old boy had been taken and pronounced dead, CABRERA began looking for one of the bags where he stored his drug supply, texting another person he wanted “to make sure nothing is missing.” 

Following the boy’s fatal overdose, CABRERA continued to sell drugs throughout New York, including from behind bars in New York state custody while detained during the pendency of the separate firearms and drug charges that resulted in his recent state court convictions. 

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CABRERA, 34, of the Bronx, New York, is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and one count of distribution of narcotics resulting in death, both of which crimes carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.  CABRERA is also charged with one count of firearms use, carrying, and possession, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The statutory minimum and maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the NYPD in connection with this investigation, along with their federal partners at the DEA.  Mr. Clayton also thanked the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin M. Burkett, Lisa Daniels, and Amanda C. Weingarten are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.