Crime Watch

D.A.: Probe takes down heroin pipeline

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Rick Whelan, chief of the Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau at the Nassau County district attorney’s office, took a brief breather after the news conference. Only minutes earlier, he had stood beside D.A. Kathleen Rice and County Executive Ed Mangano to announce that a team of federal and local investigators had “dismantled” an alleged multi-million-dollar heroin pipeline that stretched from Mexico and California to New York City and Long Island.

The announcement came on Dec. 18, in the plainly furnished basement of the district attorney’s office in Mineola. On display were an array of street drugs and a wad of $20 bills in 10 clear-plastic evidence bags, along with photographic evidence.

Nine people from Mexico, California, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens were arrested in recent weeks following an 18-month investigation, dubbed Operation Smackdown, which began when two Queens men sold heroin to investigators on the North Shore, according to officials.

“These individuals we arrested [were part of] a large pipeline into Nassau County,” Whelan said in an interview with the Herald, adding that the investigation was continuing.

At the news conference, officials alleged that the pipeline’s organizers shipped several kilograms of heroin into New York each month in recent years. They estimated the street value at $3 million to $6 million or more.

Whelan said that wiretaps and physical surveillance, carried out jointly by federal and local officials, led investigators to the pipeline’s organizers. Among the agencies involved in the investigation were the Nassau D.A.’s Office and Police Department, the New York City Police Department and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

The two Queens men –– Ajay Carter, 38, and Miguel Tormo, 42 –– were arrested and charged with selling heroin in Nassau County. Undercover investigators made four buys from the pair –– two in Great Neck and two in Manhasset, an official said. In total, they allegedly sold a pound of heroin to investigators.

In addition to heroin, Carter also sold cocaine, ecstasy and anabolic steroids via Craigslist, a news release from Rice’s office stated.

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