Bay Ridge Drug House Raid Leads Police
To Multimillion Dollar Crack Ring
By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
JAY STREET — “I shot him! I shot him twice! … I’m on five two, somebody come get me! Fourth and fifth!” shouted a drug dealer into his cell phone.
As Brooklyn prosecutors dryly noted Thursday, the shooter was effectively calling 911 on himself.
This conversation took place between Eric “Fat Eddy” Rodriguez, 26, alleged leader of a massive Brooklyn drug ring, and his alleged cohort Aishan Reyes, 22, on a phone tapped by NYPD detectives.
Minutes later, the two men and four others were arrested by police officers, causing police to commence their massive narcotics raid of a narcotics ring that was under investigation for a full year.
Rodriguez, who police say was a “violent drug kingpin,” allegedly ran a crack-and-cocaine delivery service that netted $2 million a year. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes announced the takedown of the alleged drug ring and indictment of 43 suspects at a press conference Thursday.
Rodriguez and his associates allegedly used various means to evade law enforcement, frequently switching cars and phones and hiding drugs in people’s bodies. Police say they even identified the undercover narcotics officers following them, and started tracking the officers’ movements and photographing them.
But they didn’t realize their phones were tapped. After Rodriguez was recorded allegedly ordering the murder of a man he suspected of stealing one of his drug-filled cars, Brooklyn cops arrested him and took down the entire operation, according to police.
This ring was allegedly a massive source of crack cocaine in Brooklyn – and it was discovered almost by accident last year when Hynes indicted six alleged crack-dealers in Bay Ridge – a story that was first reported by the Brooklyn Eagle.
“Operation Blockbuster” raided two crack houses on 93rd Street in Bay Ridge in 2008, which led to the arrest of brothers Joseph, Michael and Ross Terrone, and two other men and one woman who lived with the brothers.
In that case last year, the group was selling crack just blocks from Hynes’ Bay Ridge home in a situation that he said was “horrific.”
“A group of neighbors came to see me almost a year ago, and said it was unbearable to live with these people going in and out,” Hynes recalled yesterday. “I don’t think anybody thought it would explode to this. We’ve identified the wholesalers.”
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez allegedly led a crew of dealers that sold up to 2,000 $20 bags of crack-cocaine per week to drug dealers throughout Brooklyn, in massive areas throughout the borough, including Bay Ridge, Park Slope, and Bensonhurst,.
Drugs were delivered by cars, much like a legitimate taxi service, Hynes said. Dispatchers received cell phone drug orders 24 hours a day and sent drivers out to deliver the drugs to customers.
Ironically, a massive drug ring that stemmed from the Bronx was busted earlier this week. Drug sellers posing as pizza delivery people would bring drugs to people throughout the city in an unrelated case.
The 43 individuals named in the 88-count indictment in Brooklyn face 25 years to life in prison for the top conspiracy charges. Two defendants under 18 face a maximum sentence of eight and one-third to 25 years. Rodriguez and the five men arrested after the shooting that led to this bust are also charged with attempted murder.
“Few cases better illustrate the inevitable nexus between drug trafficking and violence,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement. “It also illustrates why drug dealers should be sentenced in ways that keep them in jail.”
Hynes said that the recent reform of New York state’s Rockefeller Drug Laws won’t affect the lengthy sentences his office is seeking for the alleged dealers.
Although the arrest of the Terrones in June 2008 led to this massive sting operation, Hynes said that the Bay Ridge crack dealers didn’t snitch on Rodriguez. “How we got Rodriguez is confidential,” Hynes said.
“As we took that case down we saw that there was a connection between that organization and this one,” explained Lawrence Oh, deputy bureau chief of Major Narcotics Investigations. Rodriguez’s organization was selling crack-cocaine wholesale, and the Terrones were local drug sellers that he supplied, Oh said.
The Terrones and their co-defendants are still being held without bail on numerous counts of conspiracy and criminal possession and sale of a controlled substance. The Terrones reportedly grew up in the two houses that they eventually turned into crack dens.
Officers from the 68th Precinct and Brooklyn Narcotics South raided the houses in June 2008.
Neighbors long complained that the two houses were involved in drug deals and other neighborhood nuisances, disrupting an otherwise quiet tree-lined block. After three years of community complaints, police got involved.
Hynes was instrumental in carrying out the raid. He also initiated civil proceedings to seek the forfeiture of the Bay Ridge houses located at 346 and 348 93rd St., between Third and Fourth avenues. That property was estimated to have a value of $1.5 million at the time.
A large “For Sale” sign still stands posted in front of the two properties.
Additional reporting by Ryan Thompson of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
POLICE TRANCRIPT
How to Cock
A Gun & Kill
E.R. Son, that’s my hood n----. Son, Jesus Christ ... That b---- in Staten Island, that b----- in Staten Island over there on f------ Todthill Road, that dude, those custys, most of those custys I had on my phone, n----. That’s from my 2003 work phone n---- ... That n---- Roy from Bay 13th, Rosie from f------ um Rosie from motherf----- 77th between New Utrecht and 16th, I mean on 17th, Frank from 78th Street, between f----- New Utrecht and 16th, let me see who else I can name in that area. Dude, I got so many custys son, that it’s like retarded n----.
E.R. Yo, my dude, you already know what you’re gonna do right?
A.R. Yeah, I’m gonna slant him, no?
E.R. You gonna what?
A.R. To slam him?
E.R. Slam him, n----, you stupid, there ain’t nothin’ to talk about son, you’re gonna pop that n----, dude.
A.R. Aight bet.
E.R. No, you listening to me, listen to me.
A.R. Talk to me, my n----.
E.R. On the, on the, alright let’s say you got it in your right hand, right? Say you got it in your right hand, there’s a little like uh, there’s a safety and you can see it, it’s like a little, like a goncho, that’s holding, holding, you know what I’m talking about? Put that hanger down.
A.R. Alright.
E.R. Huh?
A.R. Yeah, I got it, I got it.
E.R. Alright, after you pull that hanger down, after you pull that hanger down, what you’re gonna do is, you’re gonna cock it back, you know how to cock it back?
A.R. Yeah.
E.R. What?
A.R. Yeah, I do, I do my n----.
E.R. Alright, well cockin’ it back, you’re gonna cock it back and then the, the s--- is gonna go inside the chamber. Once you do that, kick that, that thing back up, that thing that hooks.
E.R. Son, when that n---- comes outside, son, you straight pop that n---- in his belly, n----. Don’t be hesitating for none of that son, you shoot that n---- in the stomach, n---- and you walk away, don’t run, walk away.
A.R. Alright.
E.R. Yo?
A.R. I shot him, n----. I shot him, I shot him twice
E.R. Who you shot?
A.R. I shot him, my n------. I’m on 5-2. Somebody come get me 4th and 5th, hurry up.
Questions? Comments?
Sound off to the Editor
————————
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009
All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law.
Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
