Massive NYC Oxy Ring Busted For $3 Million In Alleged Pill Sales

NEW YORK, NY — A citywide drug-dealing ring that pushed more than 160,000 pills of the prescription painkiller Oxycodone, valued at nearly $3 million, into the hands of NYC addicts for at least five years was busted Monday, city drug investigators said. The ring's two alleged leaders were arrested at their respective homes in Queens and on Long Island in the early morning hours.

Glendale resident Joseph Bivona, 45, and Valley Stream resident Steven Keller, 53, have been charged as "major traffickers" for allegedly sending a set of "runners" to various pharmacies in Brooklyn and Queens with fake prescription notes from a doctor's office in Astoria.

Their runners filled nearly 1,000 prescriptions between December 2011 and January 2017, according to the NYC Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

(The doctor whose name was on the notes has not been named as a participant the scheme. However, there is an ongoing investigation into "how the ring was able to forge so many prescriptions that track back to the clinic over such a long period of time," a spokeswoman for the Special Narcotics Prosecutor said.)

Five of the ring's alleged runners have also been charged with various counts of drug possession, drug dealing and using the forged notes: Ridgewood resident Paulita Hernandez; Glendale resident Joanne Bivona; Forest Hills resident Alexio Cunto; Middle Village resident Nicole Colletta; and Eat Williamsburg resident Tracy Staten.

The ring did scale back its operation a bit in August, prosecutors say, when New York state officials implemented the I-STOP program, which allows pharmacies to track an individual's prescription history before handing over any pills.

Opioid overdose deaths — from drugs like heroin, methadone and Oxycodone — have spiked in the U.S., and in New York especially, in the past decade. By 2014, more than 60 percent of all U.S. overdoses involved opioids, according to federal statistics.

And in the past few years, synthetic opioids like Oxycodone (as opposed to heroin and methadone) have increasingly been blamed for these deaths. Between 2014 and 2015 in New York state, statistics showed the death toll for overdoses on synthetic opioids like Oxycodone spiked from 294 dead to 668 dead. (An increase of 136 percent.)

“It is alleged that Bivona and Keller schemed to profit off of other people’s addictions by pushing diverted oxycodone onto New York City’s black market since 2011," DEA Special Agent in Charge James Hunt said Monday. "Evident by today’s arrests, law enforcement is committed to identifying prescription drug rings whose crimes contribute to opioid misuse within our communities.”

And city Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said: “There is a close link between the illegal traffic in pain pills and record numbers of overdose deaths in New York City. We will continue our efforts to identify and prosecute anyone involved in this deadly trade.”

Lead photo via B.Futureproof/Flickr