United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEW YORK – DEA New York Division Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan, Superintendent of the New York State Police Keith M. Corlett, Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff, New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill and Homeland Security Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh announced today the extradition of Anyerson Delacruz-Rosario, a major narcotics trafficker who allegedly set up and supplied a series of heroin and fentanyl packaging operations in the Bronx that distributed hundreds of thousands of user ready packets between December 2014 and March 2016.

“Fentanyl is behind 40 percent of all fatal drug overdoses and is currently the nation’s biggest public health threat,” said Special Agent in Charge Donovan. “This investigation is significant because it pinpoints fentanyl’s ground zero in New York and resulted in the extradition of the drug kingpin responsible. In May 2015, DEA and our law enforcement partners confronted a new enemy – in the form of a fentanyl kilo, potent enough to kill half a million people.  It was one of the first times we had seen fentanyl in a brick form, mimicking a kilo of heroin. I commend our partners whose collaboration was the key ingredient to dismantling this drug trafficking organization that operated at all levels; from street dealer, to mid-level supplier to major trafficker.”

“The indictment announced today sends an important message,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Brennan. “We will relentlessly pursue drug barons who reap millions in profits by causing addiction and death in New York, regardless of their attempts to insulate themselves in foreign lands. I thank all of our law enforcement partners for their commitment to this investigation.”

“This drug kingpin is finally behind bars after years of hard work and determination by our law enforcement partners,” said Superintendent Corlett, “Heroin packaged under the direction of the defendant resulted in the death of a young man in Sullivan County. Law enforcement worked tirelessly to take down the mills where it was packaged and find a leader of the operation, ultimately leading them to the defendant. This defendant had zero regard for the communities where his operations sold these dangerous drugs. Every day we see the impact these harmful substances have on families, neighborhoods, and communities. We pledge to continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners, to make sure individuals who are at the root of this illegal activity are held accountable, and the dangerous narcotics and crimes stay away from our streets.”

“Heroin traffickers like Anyerson Delacruz-Rosario, who are based outside of the U.S., think that they are out of the reach of law enforcement when they set up their narcotics distribution networks in upstate New York,” said Sheriff Schiff. “They don’t realize that we will use all of the resources at our disposal to get to the source of the heroin that is poisoning our community.”

“The trafficking of illegal and dangerous drugs in New York City will never be tolerated by law enforcement or the people we serve. These are serious charges, and bringing those who commit these acts to justice is dangerous work. But that’s our mission: fighting crime and keeping people safe. I thank the NYPD detectives and our law enforcement partners involved in this investigation,” said Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill.

     
“The amount of heroin and fentanyl seized during this operation was enough for thousands of doses, further preying on the vulnerabilities of those addicted to these drugs,” said Special Agent in Charge Fitzhugh. “The result of law enforcement partnering in removing these dealers and addictive drugs from the streets is, quite simply, lives saved.”

Delacruz-Rosario aka “Angelo,” is set to be arraigned this afternoon before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Althea Drysdale, Part 1. He was taken into custody on July 10, 2019 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and transported to New York on Aug. 23, 2019. An indictment filed by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor charges Delacruz-Rosario with two counts of Operating as a Major Trafficker under New York State’s kingpin statute, which carries a possible life sentence. Delacruz-Rosario is also charged with Conspiracy in the Second Degree, three counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree and three counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree.

A long-term wiretap investigation revealed that Delacruz-Rosario allegedly directed at least two heroin packaging operations in New York City from his base in the Dominican Republic. Delacruz-Rosario worked with New York City-based traffickers to purchase kilogram quantities of heroin and fentanyl that his organization would process and distribute in glassine envelopes. Delacruz-Rosario also communicated with customers, taking orders, arranging deliveries and fielding complaints. Investigators intercepted narcotics-related conversations between Delacruz-Rosario and New York City-based traffickers conducted in coded, cryptic language.

The investigation, arrests and seizures were the result of a collaborative effort by the DEA’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, Group Z-41, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Heroin Interdiction Team and Investigators Unit, the New York State Police, the New York City Police Department, HSI New York and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office.

Heroin Packaging Mills

Eleven defendants were previously arrested as a result of a long-term wiretap investigation by NY OCDESF, Group Z-41, between May of 2015 and May of 2016. All have since pled guilty. Ten have been sentenced, while one fled prior to being sentenced, prompting a Manhattan Supreme Court justice to issue a bench warrant. The investigation began in October of 2014, following a young man’s death from a fatal heroin overdose in Sullivan County, N.Y., and ultimately led to the identification of two wholesale drug organizations in New York City directed by Delacruz-Rosario.

The Strike Force Group identified Orlando Rosario-Concepcion, aka “Day,” as the manager of a heroin packing mill located in an apartment at 238 West 238th Street in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx. Intercepted calls showed Delacruz-Rosario and Rosario-Concepcion communicated regularly about the narcotics operation. Delacruz-Rosario also communicated regularly with narcotics suppliers and customers of the mill on West 238th Street. On May 28, 2015, agents and officers executed court-authorized searches at seven locations, including the mill apartment and stash locations. Rosario-Concepcion and four workers were actively packaging narcotics when the police arrived at the mill. Officers arrested the associates and recovered thousands of glassines of heroin as well as almost 300 grams of powder heroin that was waiting to be packaged. At the stash locations, police recovered approximately five kilograms of fentanyl and more than 1.5 kilograms of heroin.

The wiretap investigation continued after the arrests and revealed that, from the Dominican Republic, Delacruz-Rosario set up a new heroin packaging mill in the Bronx later that same year. The strike force identified Joel Monegro as the manager. Intercepted calls between Delacruz-Rosario and Monegro showed Delacruz-Rosario directing the operations of the heroin packaging mill, including arranging for the acquisition of kilograms of heroin from a supplier. Additionally, Delacruz-Rosario negotiated with customers. Agents and officers arrested Monegro, mill associates, the mill’s main supplier and the mill’s biggest customer as part of a coordinated takedown in March of 2016.

Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan thanked her office’s Heroin Interdiction Team and Investigators Unit, NY OCDESF, Group Z-41, the DEA, the New York State Police, the NYPD, HSI New York, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and the Narcotics Unit of the Nassau County Police Department and the Dominican Republic government for signing off on the extradition.

The DEA's New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers of the DEA, the New York City Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations, the New York State Police, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, New York National Guard, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, the Rockland County Sheriff's Office, the Clarkstown Police Department, Port Washington Police Department and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
 

The charges and allegations are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.