Twenty-five arrested in $1.5 million Brooklyn heroin-trafficking ring
Heroin was found hidden in cereal boxes
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced on Thursday the arrests of 25 people in a 368-charge indictment that involved a family-run heroin trafficking ring that netted $1.5 million last year. The operation was being run out of Williamsburg for at least the past two years.
“There’s a growing heroin epidemic in New York and other parts of the country that’s taking the lives of many of our young people hooked on this deadly and highly addictive drug,” Thompson said at a press conference on Thursday. “We must deal with this quiet drug plague by going after those who peddle this poison in our communities.”
Josie Tavera, 24, is accused of being the ringleader who operated out of his Driggs Avenue apartment, with the help of his mother, Haydee Cordero, who supposedly helped to launder money, and sister, Sheila Taveras, who bagged and transported the heroin. Tavera allegedly supplied his brother, Jose Taveras, and two cousins, Gustavo Taveras and Christian Rodriguez, with heroin that was sold throughout Brooklyn.