Trio Sold 'Tremendous Amounts' of Heroin, Fentanyl on LI: Feds

Three people have been indicted on federal charges for distributing over 100 kilograms of heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues on Long Island, authorities said Friday evening.

Gary Davis, 38, Joel Lee Faison, 42, and Tamien Trent, 36, were arraigned Thursday afternoon before United States District Court Judge Joseph F. Bianco at the federal courthouse in Central Islip on a 13-count indictment charging them with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, including heroin and fentanyl, using firearms in connection with these drug trafficking crimes and related charges. The three men, all from Mastic Beach, were ordered held without bail.

“As alleged in the indictment, these defendants sold tremendous amounts of heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues throughout Long Island, flooding our streets with life-threatening drugs and enriching themselves at the expense of those suffering from addiction,” Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a press release.

According to the indictment (which can be read in full here) and court filings, from approximately September 2014 until their arrests on Thursday, the three men distributed in excess of 100 kilograms of heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, as well as crack cocaine across Long Island.

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Trent boasted to a government witness that the narcotics he was selling were rendering people unconscious and, on at least one occasion, he forwarded photographs to another person of unconscious drug customers to demonstrate the potency of the drugs, authorities said.

The trio allegedly used firearms to protect their organization and distribution chain from rivals. Search warrants executed at the time of the arrests resulted in the recovery of a substance that field-tested positive for heroin, a handgun, two shotguns and cash, authorities said.

"“What is particularly sickening about these defendants is that they used as a selling point the fact that the drugs were causing overdoses," Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini said. "They did so by selling fentanyl analogs – synthetic narcotics that are specifically designed by drug dealers to evade law enforcement."