By The newspaper
05 Jul 2024, 09:25 AM EDT
Eight Hispanics from three families were identified as the suspects arrested for selling drugs and weapons from a store and a car parked outside the New York Yankees stadium in the Bronx, an activity that took place for several months, including during baseball games, according to police.
The men, including seven members of three families, were charged with 108 counts after operating for more than a year out of a store and van just steps from the stadium, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said.
The investigation began in March 2023 at the former Lush Smoke Shop at 90 East 161 Street, where an undercover investigator purchased cocaine and methamphetamine pills from alleged dealer Jose Tejada Jr., 26, and his father Jose Tejada Sr. (60).
According to prosecutors, Tejada Jr. was working with Ronny Fortuna (32) and Marvin Fortuna (29), who were allegedly selling cocaine near the former tobacco shop, according to prosecutors. Jeriel Fernandez (30) and Jael Fernandez (21) also allegedly provided cocaine powder to Tejada Jr. The other defendants have been identified as Jonathan Fernandez (31) and Christian Espinal (49), he said. New York Post.
“It endangered thousands of subway riders, nearby workers and schoolchildren, and baseball fans.”
Earlier this year, Tejada Jr. allegedly sold eight guns to the undercover officer, most recently on April 10 outside a New York Yankees game, prosecutors said. “This was a troubled area — there were a number of complaints from the community,” said Miguel Iglesias, a deputy inspector with the NYPD.
Police raided the home of the suspected traffickers on May 17 and recovered drugs and three weapons, including an AK-47. About $418,000 in cash was also seized.
A van parked near the tobacco shop was storing drugs and a gun, prosecutors said. “The defendant who allegedly sold eight guns to an undercover NYPD officer allegedly endangered thousands of subway riders, nearby workers and schoolchildren, and baseball fans,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement. “These alleged dealers conducted business in broad daylight, one block from the stadium and beneath the elevated subway station.”
Police Commissioner Edward Cabán praised the work of the undercover NYPD investigator who helped solve the case. “These charges underscore the destructive threat that illegal guns and drugs continue to pose on the streets of New York City, as well as our unwavering dedication to improving the quality of life in every neighborhood,” he said in a statement.
In a similar case, 30 people were arrested in a drug and gun raid in New York’s Orange County in May in what could be one of the largest drug busts in that region’s history. Many of the guns and drugs were being sold from a food truck in downtown Newburgh, next to the city courthouse.
Also that month, 21 suspects were arrested in a massive drug raid in Staten Island (NYC). The group includes businessman and community leader Ettore Mazzei, who was charged with 61 counts of drug trafficking, extortion and fraud.
In December, Jonathan “El Don” Huertas, a suspected drug trafficker arrested in Mexico and extradited to New York, was charged with committing atrocities including kidnapping and torturing at least two of his rivals by using a hot clothes iron to burn their skin, prosecutors said.
In May 2023, a crack cocaine transaction ended in fatality in the Bronx (NYC) when the drug dealer apparently beat his Latino client to death for knocking on his door in the middle of the night, the NYPD announced.
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