Park Slope Heroin Rings Dismantled In Operation Sin City
NEW YORK, NY. - New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and John P. Gilbride, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced today the indictment and arrest of 12 narcotics traffickers who operated in the vicinity of Park Slope, Brooklyn.
The arrests were the result of a long-term investigation by the NYPD’s Narcotics Borough Brooklyn South Major Case Team and the DEA’s New York Field Division. The investigation focused primarily on four loosely-linked drug rings in the leafy neighborhood that sold over $70,000 in heroin, including glassines stamped with the “Sin City” brand name, and quantities of cocaine to undercover police officers. Many of the more than 60 sales to undercover officers took place in broad daylight on brownstone-lined streets adjacent to Prospect Park.
Edwin Perez, the main target of the investigation who supplied heroin to street-level dealers in the area, his two closest associates, Francisco Perez and Jose Trinidad, were apprehended on Tuesday. Police made one final arrest in the case this afternoon.
At a bail hearing today in Manhattan Supreme Court, Justice Bonnie Wittner remanded both Edwin Perez and Francisco Perez. Jose Trinidad was held on $500,000 bail.
Officers who arrested Edwin Perez arrest outside his home at 330A 19 th St. on Tuesday observed a sophisticated security system complete with multiple surveillance cameras and metal plates designed to protect the windows.
Following the arrests, police executed a seizure warrant on a Can-Am Spyder three-wheeled motorcycle that Perez drove to his drug sales and kept parked in a storage facility. The officers seized approximately 1,400 glassines of heroin from a front compartment on the motorcycle, as well as a helmet painted with the words “Sin City.”
During the investigation, Perez directed customers to meet him at a location that he called “the office.” This was coded language he used to refer to various blocks adjacent to Prospect Park West in the heart of Park Slope.
Typically, Perez conducted his sales from his motorcycle or one of his luxury cars. In carrying out the transactions, which typically took less than a minute to complete, Perez would pull up alongside the customer’s vehicle, toss the drugs through the car window and receive cash in exchange. Sometimes these sales took place in the middle of traffic, in which case a second defendant, Francisco Perez, would use a separate vehicle to block cars behind Edwin Perez.
On March 18, 2010, the date of the largest sale in the investigation, Perez arrived at “the office” on his motorcycle and delivered a Sephora bag containing 2,000 glassines of heroin in exchange for $10,000. On another occasion, Perez’s preschool aged child sat in the front passenger seat as he conducted a sale from one of his cars.
Edwin Perez, Francisco Perez and Trinidad, are charged together in connection with approximately two dozen sales to the undercover officers. They supplied thousands of glassines of heroin and quantities of cocaine in exchange for over $50,000.
While Edwin Perez handled many of the bulk heroin sales, Francisco Perez typically trafficked in smaller amounts and instructed customers to meet him in the vicinity of 9 th and 10 th Streets between 4 th and 5 th Avenues.
At the outset of the investigation, police observed seemingly different drug dealers in the area selling glassines of heroin stamped with the same brand name, “Sin City.” Later in the investigation, the heroin traffickers switched to other brand names, including “True Life,” “Guilty,” “King” and “WD-40.”
Today police arrested Julio Andino, a drug supplier who also sold heroin in the vicinity of Park Slope. Another group of heroin traffickers, Alexis Feder, Ricardo Torres, Orlando Pabon and Kenneth Leon were previously arrested in March as a result of the investigation. These defendants are charged with conducting approximately a dozen sales in nearby Windsor Terrace section of Brooklyn, including one for close to $10,000. Among the locations they used were two restaurants - Joe’s Pizza, 259 Prospect Park West, and Peking Kitchen, 271 Prospect Park West - and a stretch of 17 th Street between 6 th and 8 th Avenues.
Also indicted and arrested in connection with the investigation were Jose Negron, Max Rodriguez, Armando Zecena and Christian Vasquez. Beyond the 12 defendants affiliated with the four drug rings, the investigation led to the arrests of an additional eight drug dealers for selling heroin and cocaine in vicinity of Park Slope since January.
The charges contained in the indictments are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
