Narcotics chief touts expansion of heroin investigations

Max Zahn
Edward Friedenthal, the chief of the chief of the Special Operations, Narcotics and Gangs Bureau.

Undercover police officers, electronic surveillance and criminal informants were among the tools that helped Nassau County infiltrate and break up multiple heroin rings over the past year, said Edward Friedenthal, chief of the Special Operations, Narcotics and Gangs Bureau.

“We can’t deal with this problem mainly by dealing with people selling drugs on an individual basis,” Friedenthal said. “We’ve tried to infiltrate major narcotics organizations.”

The remarks, delivered at a criminal justice conference convened by District Attorney Madeline Singas at Hostra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law last Friday, touted the use of “confidential informants as a stepping stone to larger investigations” as well as the “expanded use of electronic surveillance, meaning wiretaps.”

Before Singas was elected in 2015, Nassau County conducted one or two electronic surveillance investigations each year, Friedenthal said.

In 2016, the county conducted four investigations and 25 wiretaps, he added.

Friedenthal described one electronic surveillance investigation, called “Operation Gram Slam” because the dealer sold heroin in units measured by grams, that resulted in the indictment of 32 people, of whom 19 have pleaded guilty.

Over the course of the investigation, the police recovered 300 grams of heroin, 3,000 grams of cocaine, six firearms and $100,000 in cash, Friedenthal said.  That amounts to “approximately 12,000 individual packets of heroin that could have been sold on the streets of Nassau County,” Friedenthal said.

“When we use a wiretap, we are able to identify everyone involved in narcotics trafficking, individual distributors and individuals on the street,” Friedenthal said.

“We have evidence through the wiretap that is undeniable,” he added. Members of the jury “hear defendants admitting to a crime or committing a crime in front of them.”

Last month, Nassau County police took 36 people into custody for their alleged involvement in a heroin ring, according to Channel 11.

The arrests were a result of a nine-month investigation into local heroin distributors that experts called one of the largest drug busts in Long Island history, a Channel 11 report said.

Friedenthal noted that the enforcement, investigation and prosecution that he oversees make up one aspect of the county’s fight against heroin, which includes community outreach and education as well as legislation.

“We’re trying as much as possible to make Nassau County a heroin free county,” he said.

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