Kristy Leibowitz
Kristy Leibowitz
Kristy Leibowitz
Kristy Leibowitz
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Thirty-four people have been busted for running a massive narcotics ring that channeled cocaine, heroin and an incredibly potent drug from China into the city that is causing a huge uptick in overdoses.
The expansive operation largely pushed furanyl fentanyl, an opioid shipped in from China, which Acting Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez described as “50 times more potent than heroin” in announcing the busts Wednesday.
Authorities said the drug is known as “White China” and its production was only recently criminalized there.
The bust gleaned 2.455 kilograms of cocaine, 1.704 kilograms of heroin and 4.581 kilograms of furanyl fentanyl, said Gonzalez.
Authorities say “White China” was sold to users who thought they were buying heroin or regular fentanyl, given the only slight distinction in color between those drugs and the furanyl fentanyl, which is cheaper to make.
Opioid overdoses killed 1,350 people last year, triple the year’s murder rate, according to Chief Det. Robert K. Boyce told
The NYPD is still investigating how many of those deaths were caused by furanyl fentanyl, Boyce added.
While furanyl fentanyl remains an uncontrolled substance under New York State law, the federal government designated it a controlled substance in Nov. 2016.
Brooklyn-based distribution of the various drugs was allegedly headed by Jerome Horton, 47, of East New York, according to court papers.
Thirteen firearms and $300,000 in cash were also seized during the course of the 15-month operation, authorities said.
Horton and his many alleged cohorts were arraigned last week on a 357-count indictment on charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy and related counts.
Thirty-one of the defendants are also Bloods gang-members, Boyce said.
The 32 men and two women face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted.
“The indictment describes a sprawling narcotics ring that operated from Brooklyn across the city, the state and the country,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
“Those who push these deadly poisons on our streets, concerned only with their own lucrative profits, devastate the communities where they operate and feed the disease of addiction, which ultimately touches all of us.”