Queens Drug Market Scheme Could Land Father, Son In Prison: DA

QUEENS, NY — A father and son could face years in prison after being accused of operating an open-air drug market in Queens, prosecutors announced.

Boris Ford, 57, and his son Barshawn Ford, 29, stand accused of selling narcotics — including heroin, cocaine and fentanyl — on a dead-end street in Jamaica near 157th Street and 109th Avenue for over a year, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office.

"Illicit drugs – especially dangerous substances such as fentanyl – poison our communities and place the lives of countless individuals at risk," said District Attorney Melinda Katz, whose office has doubled down on prosecuting illegal fentanyl sales amid a recent borough-wide spike in overdoses.

"My office is relentless in our efforts to take down those who sell poison on our streets," she said.

The elder Ford, who prosecutors accused of orchestrating the so-called open-air drug market scheme, could face life in prison if convicted of charges that include criminal controlled substance sale and possession, drug trafficking, conspiracy and criminal weapons charges, according to an indictment unsealed by the District Attorney's office Tuesday.

His son, who is one of four men from Jamaica, Queens named in the indictment, could spend up to nine years in prison if convicted of criminal drug sale and possession charges in connection to the narcotics scheme, prosecutors said.

Esau Daniels, 28, and Leon Spears, 60, are facing 14 and 15 years in prison, respectively, if found guilty of helping to sell the drugs, according to the indictment.

Lonnie Scott, 50, could face life in prison if found guilty of helping to supply the drug market with narcotics, prosecutors said. He was found with more than $75,000 worth of narcotics, according to the indictment.

The drug market scheme started in May of last year, when the elder Ford started getting narcotics from suppliers — including Scott — and repackaging them for his son and Daniels to sell on the streets of Queens to walk-up customers and drug dealers, including Spears, prosecutors claim.

During a 13-month investigation dubbed Operation Overpass, law enforcement officials covertly surveilled the men's texts and phone calls detailing drug inventory and sales, according to the indictment.

Between May 2021 and June of this year, Fords, Daniels and Spears stand accused of selling narcotics nearly two dozen times, prosecutors said.

This week, after investigating the scheme for over a year, New York City Police Department officers were authorized to search the homes of the younger Ford, Spears and Scott and found four illegal guns, more than five kilograms of heroin and cocaine and cash, according to the indictment.

"The NYPD and our law-enforcement partners will continue to combat the scourge of illegal drugs wherever, and whenever, it threatens New Yorkers," said Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

"Selling this poison in our community shows a callous disregard for human life. These criminals prey on some of our city’s most vulnerable people, and the NYPD will never cease in our efforts to bring them to justice."

Items found during the searches added to the men's charges in the indictment, prosecutors said.

The men named in the indictment are all expected to return to court over the next several months, according to prosecutors.