UWS Drug Dealers Found With Assault Rifle, Heroin, $170K Cash: DA

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A drug-dealing ring that sold heroin on the Upper West Side was busted in The Bronx Thursday after police found an arsenal of weapons, more than 30 pounds of heroin and fentanyl, and roughly $170,000 in cash, prosecutors said.

Nine members of the drug gang — including its two main suppliers — are facing charges such as the criminal possession and sale of controlled substances, criminal conspiracy charges and weapons charges, prosecutors said.

Eight of the drug dealers have been arrested and one arrest is still pending, officials said.

Suppliers Ismael Lugo and Ricardo Gonzalez were arrested Oct. 9 when federal and local law enforcement agents raided a stash house in the Pelham section of The Bronx, prosecutors said.

During the raid officials found 10 kilograms of heroin, five handguns, an AR-15 assault rifle and more than in $100,000 cash, prosecutors said. Drug-making equipment such as grinders, face masks and goggles were also found inside the home, police said.

Police later searched Lugo's home in Elmsford, N.Y. and found $10,000 cash and five kilograms of suspected heroin and fentanyl and his vehicles, which were outfitted with hidden compartments concealing drugs and $35,000 in cash.

The remaining members of the gang facing charges were responsible for street-level drug sales, prosecutors said. Between May 2018 and August 2019 undercover officers set up more than a dozen drug sales, all of which took place on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

"The proliferation of illegal drugs in New York City will never be tolerated, neither by law enforcement nor by the people we serve. I thank the NYPD investigators and our law enforcement partners whose dedicated hard work moved this case forward," said NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill.

The street-level dealers were identified Thursday as: Macario "Mac" Vasquez, Victor "Tito" Munett, Charles Underwood, Gabriel "Green Eyes" Velasquez, Frank "Ponce" Laboy, Joshua "Flaco" Vega and Hermelinda Anglada.

Drugs recovered during raids and undercover buys tested positive for heroin and heroin laced with synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, tramadol and alprazolam, prosecutors said. Drugs sold by the gang were tied to four overdoses, three fatal, in the Soundview section of The Bronx and in Westchester County.

"Even as customer overdoses and deaths mounted, their business flourished. They stockpiled not only cash but an arsenal of deadly weapons. I thank our attorneys, investigators and partners for their two-year commitment to this case," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said in a statement.