By Doug Miller
The sweep involved more than 75 undercover drug buys, many of them secretly videotaped, and resulted in the confiscation of more than $100,000 worth of cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, mushrooms and pills from the underground economy. In addition, about $12,000 in cash was seized.
The police also recovered three loaded weapons and five late-model automobiles, two of which were discovered - by the Nassau County Police Department's Canine Unit searches - to have been fitted with trap doors and hidden storage compartments.
Five of the people arrested in the sweep were charged with Class A-1 felonies and face the possibility of 20 years to life in prison. They are Patrick Toland Jr., 28, of Woodhaven, Queens; Hugo Villavicencio, 24, of Jamaica, Queens; Andres Rivera, 22, of Richmond Hills, Queens; Daniel Paulino, 31, of Jamaica and Alnardo Perez, 34, of Jamaica. They are each charged with first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. All five are being held without bail at the Nassau County Jail.
While the top five arrests were of Queens residents, 31 of the 41 arrests were of Long Beach residents. Seventeen of the arrests included an additional charge of selling drugs in a school zone.
The Long Beach residents arrested were Larry West, 40, of East Chester Street; Mark Hankins, 33, of East Chester Street; Viterbo I. Liranzo Jr., of East Hudson Street; Ruth Horn, 42, of East Hudson Street; Stayles Harris, 47, of East Pine Street; Booker Jenkins, 51, of East Market Street; Valerie Farrell, 53, of West Broadway; Sean Wiggins, 37, of West Broadway; Garrie Reeder, 50, of East Fulton Street; Felicia Thomas, 31, of Oak Court; Troy Woodruff, 35, of East Broadway; Edward Bellamy, 37, of Oak Court; Testoro Jones, 34, of East Fulton Street; Michael Friedin, 21, of Pacific Boulevard; Rasheen Albright, 23, of West Hudson Street; Kareem Nowell, 24, of East Pine Street; Henry Johnson, 44, of North Drive; Sheryl Wasserman, 38, of East Walnut Street; Azon Hollis, 20, of Birch Court; Leroy Poole, 19, of East Fulton Street; Vida Hylton, 41, of West Pine Street; James Brown, of East Market Street; Carol Hollis, 40, of East Pine Street; Christa Salice, 33, of West Park Avenue; Karon Cooper, 22, of East Fulton Street; Michael Smith, 24, of East Hudson Street; Christopher Thornton, 20, of Barnes Street; Eddie Gomez, 19, of East Hudson Street; Willie Wilson, 52, of East Fulton Street; Carol Bargfrede, 45, of East Pine Street and Reginald Krakowski, 27, of East Pine Street.
Each of the above was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance. They were remanded on between $50,000 and $100,000 bail.
Six of those arrested were described by Detective Lt. Vincent Buscemi, the commanding officer of the detective division, as gang members. He said they were affiliated with a local gang called Murder Unit as well as regional factions of the Bloods and the Latin Kings. None of the six were described as occupying positions of leadership in the gangs, Buscemi said.
The six are Azon Hollis, Kareem Nowel, Leroy Poole, Michael Smith and Testoro Jones, all of Long Beach, and Richard Orstrander, a Franklin Square resident who was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Long Beach Police Commissioner Thomas R. Sofield said each suspect was arrested after one or more drug buys by undercover officers was captured on videotape.
"A sweep of this magnitude would not have had much of an effect in New York City," said Detective Sgt. James Canner, one of the officers in charge of the operation. "But on the street, we keep hearing how we've taken the drugs out of Long Beach."
The operation began locally, but as it grew in scope it used resources from the Nassau County district attorney's office's Street Narcotics and Gang (SNAG) unit. The D.A.'s office contributed about $35,000 to cover the police overtime involved, plus much of the surveillance equipment.
The 75 buys were conducted over the past six months by two undercover officers. Officials said the sweep is ongoing, and more arrests are expected.
The arrests were described and the confiscated loot was displayed at a press conference in City Manager Charles Theofan's office in City Hall Tuesday morning. During the press conference, Canner showed a video of an undercover officer buying drugs from a man in a Ford SUV who police said was Viterbo Liranzo Jr. The video was shot in broad daylight in the alley behind the Citibank on East Park Avenue. The bank appeared to be open at the time, and several customers' cars were visible.
"There is no such thing as an airtight case," said Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Phil Popper, the chief prosecutor in Long Beach City Court. "But when you have this quality of police work and this quality of evidence, well, a picture is truly worth a thousand words."
Sofield credited the City Council's listening sessions, which took place throughout 2004, with providing the spark that began the sweep. So many neighbors complained about the scourge of drugs in all of the city's neighborhoods that it became one of the department's top priorities.
"Since we began this, we've gotten numerous phone calls from people in the community thanking us," Sofield said.
Comments about this story? DMiller @liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
