Massive Meth And Fentanyl Drug Bust Connected To Wash Heights: SNP

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A massive methamphetamine and fentanyl drug ring with multiple connections to Washington Heights peddled tens of thousands of pills, including some shaped like Donald Trump and Mickey Mouse, authorities said.

Following a two year-long wiretap investigation, authorities busted and charged nine people accused of operating a manufacturing and interstate trafficking scheme that stretched across Manhattan, The Bronx, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, the Office of Special Narcotics announced on Wednesday, in conjunction with the unsealing of the indictment.

The investigation resulted in the seizure of over 26,000 pills containing fentanyl, two kilograms of powdered fentanyl, nearly 50,000 pills of methamphetamine, and three kilograms of powdered cocaine, authorities said.

The estimated street value of the drugs? $2.5 million.

The pills seized came in multiple shapes, including a silhouette of the former President Donald Trump, Bitcoin, and Mickey Mouse.

“Fentanyl is pushing overdose deaths in our city to record highs," said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan, in a news release. "Those charged today made a business out of manufacturing and distributing lethal fentanyl masquerading as legitimate prescription pills."

The Investigation And Its Connection To Washington Heights

The investigation initially focused on two brothers — Washington Heights resident Edwin Cabrera and Elvis Cabrera — who were suspected of trafficking narcotics, authorities said.

During the course of their accused drug trafficking operation that ran from August 2019 to February 2023, records and communication shows that the two brothers, along with Bronx resident Juan Dejesus, placed multiple orders for pill-pressing materials to be delivered to addresses in Manhattan and Rhode Island, according to authorities.

Pill presses are commonly used by drug traffickers to powdered narcotics such as fentanyl into counterfeit pills.

After a wiretap was successfully placed, Cabrera was accused of telling Erick Sanchez on Nov. 17, 2022, that "I got three place for tomorrow," before video footage then showed him walking into Sanchez's building near West 185th Street and Audubon Avenue with a large bulge in his sweater pocket, and then leaving several minutes later without the bulge, authorities said.

The following day, Sanchez drove to Providence, Rhode Island, where he is accused of transferring drugs to a person not part of the indictment, who was then stopped by the FBI and found with 3,000 pills of fentanyl, authorities said.

Months later on Feb. 16, 2023, members of the DEA and the NYPD conducted a series of searches, including at Cabrera's apartment on West 176th Street and Jennifer Duran's apartment on West 185th Street, where loaded guns, more than 1,000 methamphetamine pills, counterfeit oxycodone pills, and various other narcotics were found collectively, authorities said.

Agents also went to Woodcrest Avenue in the Bronx, where the majority of the pills that were seized were found behind a false wall in a boiler-room of the building, authorities said.

The years-long investigation was conducted by the DEA, the Office of Special Narcotics, the NYPD, the New York State Police, and the FBI.

Here is the complete list of people charged, according to authorities.

Edwin Cabrera: New York, NY

• Age: 39
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count
• CSCS 1st – 3 counts
• CPCS 2nd –1 count
• CPW 2nd – 2 counts

Frankie Rosario: Reading, PA

• Age: 24
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count
• CPCS 1st – 1 count
• CPCS 3rd – 1 count

Juan Dejesus: New York, NY

• Age: 52
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count
• CPCS 1st – 2 counts
• CPCS 2nd – 1 count
• CPCS 3rd – 2 counts
• CPCS 5th – 1 count

Erick Sanchez: New York, NY

• Age: 27
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count
• CPCS 1st – 1 count
• CPCS 3rd – 1 count
• CPCS 7th – 1 count

Jennifer Duran: New York, NY

• Age: 44
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count
• Criminal Facilitation 2nd – 1 count
• CPCS 7th – 1 count

Miguel Castillo: Providence, RI

• Age: 44
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count
• CPCS1st – 1 count
• CPCS 3rd – 1 count

Ruben Burgos: New York, NY

• Age: 38
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count
• CPCS 3rd – 2 couts
• CPCS 7th – 1 cout

Elvis Cabrera: New York, NY

• Age: 35
• Conspiracy 2nd – 1 count

Jose Rodriguez: Bronx, NY

• Age: 32
• CPW 3rd – 1 count
• Criminal Possession of a Firearm – 1 count