Bushwick Drug Bust: Housing Project Ring Sold Heroin, Crack, Xanax, Weed, Officials Say

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — More than an hour before sunrise Wednesday, swarms of cops from the NYPD's Brooklyn North division pulled up to the Hope Gardens public-housing complex on Menahan Street between Wilson and Central Avenues. The raids they were about to carry out were the fruits of a yearlong investigation into community complaints about drug dealing and gun violence in the area.

By morning's end, police had arrested 21 people they found within seven apartments at 120 and 140 Menahan, according to the NYPD — all of them in connection to an alleged drug-dealing ring operating out of Hope Gardens for the past year at least.

"In some cases, defendants sold narcotics to undercover officers," a spokesperson for the city's Special Narcotics Prosecutor said.

Cops also found a huge stockpile of heroin and prescription Xanax pills inside the apartments, officials said — along with crack cocaine, marijuana, two loaded guns, drug paraphernalia and some forged credit cards.

It's likely that not all of the 21 people arrested in Wednesday's raids will be charged in court, a source close to the investigation told Patch.

However, at least five of the suspects are facing hefty charges. Here are their names and the accusations against them, as provided by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor For the City of New York:

• Samuel Rivera and Marisol Caceres will be charged in connection to 64 glassines of heroin allegedly found in their apartment at 120 Menahan.

• Michael Ragsdale Sr. will be charged in connection to "quantities of Xanax, crack cocaine and marijuana" allegedly found in his apartment at 120 Menahan.

• Elijah Hunt will be charged in connection to two loaded guns allegedly found in his apartment at 140 Menahan — a .22 caliber Ruger revolver and a .44 caliber revolver, according to the NYPD.

• Acelle Ricks, a 28-year-old resident of 120 Menahan, will be charged in connection to seven alleged sales of crack cocaine to undercover police officers.

Patch is in contact with the various agencies involved and will update this post with more information as it becomes available.