Nine charged as part of alleged heroin pipeline

Bill San Antonio

Nine people have been arrested and charged as part of an alleged multi-million dollar narcotics pipeline that ran from Mexico to New York and distributed heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and anabolic steroids to Nassau County communities, Nassau County prosecutors said Thursday.

The arrests come following an 18-month investigation by the Nassau County District attorney’s office and multiple law enforcement agencies at various levels across multiple states that began with undercover police officers purchasing heroin from dealers in Great Neck and Manhasset, prosecutors said.

The defendants have been accused of trafficking drugs throughout New York City and Long Island out of residences in Astoria, Queens, and the Bronx from vehicles driven to the United States from Mexico and “mules” that flew east from California, prosecutors said. 

Proceeds from drug sales were transported by “mules” who carried cash onto planes and in vehicles as well as through money orders and wire transfers, prosecutors said.   

“The investigators on this case stopped at nothing, and these are dangerous defendants,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said during a news conference detailing the investigation, which she described as still ongoing. “…I hope that it will put some dent [into the Nassau County drug trade], but it’s not going to stop the [heroin] epidemic.”

There were 44 fatal heroin overdoses in Nassau County in 2013, according to county figures, as well as 115 deaths to prescription drug overdoses.

“Heroin is a scourge on our society. It’s a national problem and there’s no exceptions here in Nassau County,” Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said during the news conference. “…There are far too many funerals, far too many families broken up, and today we put a dent in that pipeline.”

The district attorney’s office said they first became aware of the ring in the summer of 2013, when investigators began tracking Astoria residents Ajay Carter, 38, also known as “Jay” and “Jose Zambrano,” and Miguel Tormo, 42, who prosecutors said sold heroin through dealers in the New York area. Carter also dealt cocaine, ecstasy and steroids on Craigslist.

The investigation – which officials said included the sale of one pound of heroin to undercover officers in Great Neck and Manhasset – soon led the district attorney’s office to Cesar Romero-Astudillo, 24, of the Bronx, who, prosecutors said, was found to have received narcotics shipments directly from Mexico and provided Carter and Tormo with the drugs.

Rice’s office also alleged Romero-Astudillo received three kilograms of heroin through a series of “mules,” including Vincent Belmontes, 24, of Riverside, Calif., who swallowed packets of the drug and passed them in Romero-Astudillo’s Bronx apartment.

On Aug. 14, 2014, investigators said they discovered that black tar heroin was transported to Romero-Astudillo via Luis Alberto Mendoza Rosas, 34, also known as “Panzon,’ of the Bronx, who hid the drug in the engine of a gray Dodge Durango with falsified California license plates that he drove from Mexico with two unnamed associates – described as a 57-year-old from Chula Vista, Calif. and a 21-year-old from Los Mochis, Mexico – who posed as a family in the United States on vacation, prosecutors said. 

The Durango, which had a red kayak and bicycles mounted to the vehicle’s exterior, was taken to an auto body shop in Astoria owned by Santiago Juela, 33, of Brooklyn, who prosecutors said recovered and sold the heroin and funneled money made from drug sales between Romero-Astudillo and Mexico.   

Upon learning in September that Mendoza Rosas and the two unnamed defendants were suspected of transporting drugs from Mexico to New York in the same vehicle, Rice’s office advised New Jersey State Police to monitor the vehicle, the DA’s office said. On Sept. 23, New Jersey state officers stopped the same Durango in Warren County and recovered five kilograms of black tar heroin hidden in the engine.

“It just looks like a couple of guys on vacation,” said Rick Whelan, chief of Rice’s Narcotics Bureau. “…That car blends in…it’s unassuming.”

Romero-Astudillo and Belmontes are being held without bail. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Larry Stephen set bail for Mendoza Rosas at $1 million bond or $500,000 in cash, for Reyes at $100,000 bond or $75,000 in cash and for Juela at $100,000 bond or cash.

Romero-Astudillo, Mendoza Rosas, Reyes, Juela, Belmontes and the two unnamed defendants each face felony conspiracy charges.

Romero-Astudillo was also charged with first-degree, A-I felony operating as a major trafficker, an A-I felony criminal possession of a controlled substance and A-I and B felony counts of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of the top charge, prosecutors said.

Mendoza Rosas, Reyes and Juela were each also charged with first-degree, A-I felony criminal possession of a controlled substance. The two unnamed defendants each received two A-I and one B felony charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Belmontes faces up to 25 years in prison, while the remaining defendants face up to 20 years in prison.

Carter and Tormo each face A-I and B felony counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance. Carter also received additional first and third-degree counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance. 

Nassau County Court Judge Teresa Corrigan set their bail at $5 million bond or $2.5 million cash.

Carter faces up to 40 years in prison and Tormo faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the top charges. They are due back in court on Jan. 8.

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