'Pink Panties' Smuggling Ring Busted For Rikers Scheme, Feds Say

NEW YORK CITY — A gang of "Pink Panties" prison guards have been busted for smuggling drugs and contraband into Rikers Island jails, Brooklyn prosecutors announced.

Twenty-one corrections officers, inmates and suppliers face conspiracy and narcotic smuggling charges for sneaking weed, synthetic marijuana, Suboxone and cellphones into Rikers for about a year, according to U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.

A year-long FBI investigation uncovered the elaborate smuggling ring that relied on thousands of dollars of bribes and a list of creative code names to bring contraband into the George R. Vierno and the Otis Bantum centers, said prosecutors.

Investigators heard one Vierno facility inmate boast on Feb. 19 that he had "'Pink Panties’ [code for correction officer] on the line right now," federal prosecutors said.

“I’m trying to get, um four ‘Oakland Raider jerseys’ [code for marijuana]," he reportedly added. "You just gotta make it to the ‘Jungle’ [code for Brooklyn] to drop it off to them and, more or less, we lit from there.”

Evidence against the crew also includes 12 bags of weed and an iPhone 6 found on inmate Christopher Rivas, 32, on Oct. 25, prosecutors said.

Twelve members of the smuggling ring are slated to appear in Brooklyn Federal Court Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors said.

“The corruption of correction officers presents a security risk to the entire jail population,” said Donoghue. “We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who place their personal enrichment over the public duties they have sworn to perform.”

The alleged smugglers face up to five years prison if convicted, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors identified six Rikers guards — Darrington James, 30, Patrick Legerme, 29, Aldrin Livingston, 31, Michael Murray, 28, Angel Rodriguez, 23, and Christopher Walker, 28 — five inmates — James Albert, 43, Clarence Brooks, 39, Kyle Charles, 32, John Mohammed, 27, and Rivas — and seven suppliers — Celena Burgess, 43, Veronica Jagdeo, 24, Jorcetta King, 33, Aboudou Krigger, 25, Jonathan Medina, 29, Styles Shephard, 24, Tony West, 24 — in the alleged conspiracy.