New Jersey Heroin Ring Busted
A heroin supply ring which allegedly brought in $750,000 a week was busted this past week by federal, state, local, and county police in New Jersey. According to the article in the Asbury Park Press, a Newark man bought heroin in bulk and used his grocery store and other homes in Essex County to dilute and package the drugs. He then sold the heroin to mid level dealers who in turn distributed it to the street dealers throughout New Jersey. The bust led to fifty arrests. "Federal DEA agents, members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, and local police seized drugs with a street value of almost $1 million dollars, including 30,700 packets of heroin that weighed more than 61/2 pounds and was worth about $460,500." The operation known as "Operation Life," was one in which members of various gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and Five Percenters worked together because they had a common interest of earning drug money off the street. In my experience as a criminal defense attorney, this is extremely rare to see rival gangs working together for any purpose.
Most of the arrests were made last Tuesday and they were announced Wednesday morning at a news conference in Freehold, attended by state Attorney General Anne Milgram, Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin, representatives from local police departments, the New Jersey State Police, the FBI, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, and the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office. This was obviously a huge team effort for all aspects of law enforcement in New Jersey to bring down this large heroin trafficking ring.
