When Riverhead Town planners created the destination retail district on Route 58 they certainly weren’t planning for it to become a destination for high-end heroin trade.
But that’s exactly what happened, according to Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.
The county’s top prosecutor today announced the arrests and indictments of nine men involved in a heroin distribution network connecting East Harlem with eastern Suffolk, with the Route 58 retail corridor as its nexus.
Spota said six Suffolk heroin dealers — three men from Riverhead, one from Flanders, one from Calverton and one from Mastic — “peddled their poison” along the Route 58 corridor, selling small plastic bags of a very pure and exceedingly potent heroin known as “Hollywood” to customers traveling to Riverhead’s destination retail corridor from across the twin forks and eastern Suffolk.
The “Riverhead crew,” as Spota called them, sold heroin in parking lots up and down Route 58, from Tanger Outlets on the west to DMV Plaza on the east. At least one of the dealers sold heroin in the parking lot of the Flanders Road McDonald’s in Riverside, Spota said.
Their customers came from Southampton, Southampton Village, Quogue, Sag Harbor, Westhampton, Southold, Greenport, Miller Place and Rocky Point, Spota said.
“Hollywood” heroin, because it’s more pure and more potent, produces a high that lasts longer, Spota said. It commands a higher price on the street as a result, he said, selling for $15 to $20 for a .03-gram bag, 50 percent more than ordinary heroin.
The East End Drug Task Force investigation was begun in 2011 when police started seeing overdoses on both forks linked to this particular brand of heroin. The ongoing investigation lasted “well over a year” and included wiretaps, confidential informants and undercover investigators, the district attorney said. Executing a series of search warrants over the span of several months, investigators seized more than 60 grams of heroin packaged for sale in small plastic bags containing .03 grams each. They also seized a rifle, a shotgun, knives, drug paraphernalia, two cars, cell phones, and a few thousand dollars in cash.
Charged in multiple-count indictments, according to the district attorney were:
Leroy Langhorne, 41, of Ludlam Avenue in Flanders, charged with 9 counts of felony drug sale and possession charges, felony conspiracy and misdemeanor criminal possession of marijuana;
Leon Langhorne, 38, of Oakland Drive West in Riverhead, facing one felony conspiracy charge and two felony drug possession with intent to sell charges;
Jerome Trent, 58, of Doctors Path in Riverhead, facing one felony drug charge, one felony conspiracy charge, two misdemeanor drug charges, and one misdemeanor weapons charge;
Farrow Sims, 42, of Hill Crescent in Calverton, facing one felony conspiracy charge, two counts of felony drug sales charges, two counts of felony drug possession charges, and one misdemeanor weapons charge;
Joseph Thomas, 41, of Dahlia Drive in Mastic, facing one felony conspiracy charge and three counts of felony drug possession with intent to sell charges. If convicted Thomas faces 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison, Spota said.
Robert Baker, 46, of Fanning Boulevard in Riverhead, facing a felony conspiracy charge, two counts of felony drug sale, three counts of felony drug possession with intent to sell, and one count of felony drug possession. If convicted Baker faces 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison, Spota said.
Jose Calvente, 65, of E. 118th St in Manhattan, charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, an A2 felony, seven counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, B felonies, five counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, B felonies, and felony conspiracy. If convicted Calvente faces 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison, Spota said.
Jose Morales, 75, of Second Avenue in Manhattan, charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, an A2 felony, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and one count of conspiracy in the second degree, all B felonies. If convicted, Morales faces 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison, Spota said.
Carlos Ramos, 52, of East 118th St. in Manhattan, charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, an A2 felony, two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and one count of conspiracy in the second degree, all B felonies. If convicted Ramos faces 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison, Spota said.
Spota said prosecutors would seek the maximum sentence for all of the men charged, who are all repeat offenders with multiple prior felony drug convictions.
“These people know nothing but selling drugs,” Spota said. “They go to jail, they get out and they come right back into the drug business. Quite frankly, we shouldn’t stand for it and we’re not going to stand for it.”
As an affluent area, Suffolk County is a target for heroin dealers, Spota said. “They think they will elude us, but they won’t,” he promised. Suffolk County law enforcement is going to undertake “a full-court press on the heroin epidemic were seeing here in Suffolk County,” Spota said, “and I think that will become even more evident in the near future.”
In May 2010, Spota announced the East End Drug Task Force bust of what he called a major heroin ring on the East End that he said sold 2,500 bags of heroin per week on eastern Long Island. The heroin had a street value of about $2 million per year. Task Force officers then seized 4,430 bags of heroin packaged for street sale and arrested 20 people on drug possession, sale and conspiracy charges.
Spota today said he could not put a dollar value on the operation of the East Harlem-Riverhead network.
“Obviously, it was a very lucrative business,” Spota said, noting that one defendant paid cash for a brand-new Infiniti four days before he was arrested.
All defendants entered pleas of not guilty at arraignment
According to online court records, all nine men entered pleas of not guilty to all charges last month before Suffolk County Criminal Court Judge Stephen Braslow.
The bail status and appearances of each defendant, according to the online court records, are as follows:
Leroy Langhorne, represented by private counsel Thomas LaValle, of Hauppauge, was released on his own recognizance following his arraignment Jan. 24. He is next due in court Feb. 24.
Leon Langhorne, represented by private counsel John Loturco, of Huntington, was arraigned Jan. 15 and is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail. He is next due in court March 5.
Trent, represented by private counsel James Lakoya, of Hauppauge, was arraigned Jan. 16 and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court Feb. 26.
Sims, represented by assigned counsel Christopher Brocato, was arraigned Jan. 9 and is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond, $200,000 cash bail. His next court date is Feb. 27.
Thomas, represented by assigned counsel (Legal Aid), was arraigned Jan. 8 and is being held on $200,000 bond, $75,000 cash bail. His next court appearance is March 10.
Baker, represented by assigned counsel Steven Fondulis, of Port Jefferson, was arraigned Jan. 8 and is being held on $250,000 bond, $75,000 cash bail. His next court date is Feb. 21.
Ramos, represented by assigned counsel Anthony Rutkowski, of Mattituck, was arraigned Jan. 8 and is being held on $500,000 bond, $200,000 cash bail. He is next due back in court on March 4.
Morales, represented by private counsel David Tonger, of Manhattan, was arraigned on Jan. 8 and is being held on $500,000 bond, $250,000 cash bail. His next court appearance is March 10.
Calvente, arraigned on Jan. 8, is represented by assigned counsel Eileen Powers, of Riverhead. He is being held on $500,000 bond, $250,000 bail.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
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