Nearly two dozen people from Syracuse were among 41 people indicted Thursday on charges of operating two drug pipelines that ran through the city. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says a heroin ring stretched across four cities to Syracuse, and another ring used the U.S. Postal Service to ship cocaine from Puerto Rico.
Schneiderman says the combined value of the heroin and cocaine seized during the investigation was $900,000. Thirty-four people were arrested in a series of early morning raids in Syracuse, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Ossining, NY, as well as Paterson, NJ. Schniederman says police were still recovering guns and drugs from the rings as of Thursday afternoon.
NY State Police Superintendent Joe D'Amico says those arrested were responsible for bringing large quantities of heroin and cocaine to neighborhoods in Oswego, Cortland, Onondaga, and Cayuga counties during the last year.
Of the 41 indicted Thursday, three face possible life in prison if convicted as “major traffickers”. Two of them are from Syracuse; Jeyson Pizarro and Christopher Ramos. D'Amico and Schneiderman say the heroin epidemic is still raging in New York and across the northeast, and they're looking to expand their already strong local partnerships beyond state borders to crack down on distributors. They're quick to add that this effort is combined with trying to get people into drug treatment and improving drug treatment programs. Also, any cash seized from the operations is used to equip law enforcement officers statewide with Narcan, a drug that can reverse overdoses and save lives.
