STATEN ISLAND — A family-run, 14-person heroin ring was taken down by authorities through a text message, the Staten Island District Attorney's office announced Thursday.
The ring was started by two stepbrothers — Justin Bonilla, 27, and Robert Alvarado, 35 — who shared the profits from sales with their mother and used their girlfriends to help deal the drugs, said Daniel Master Jr., the acting DA in Staten Island.
"This 77-count indictment details how eight individuals conspired to distribute and sell heroin to a part of the Staten Island community that has been decimated by drug abuse and made money feeding those deadly addictions," Master said.
"The more drug dealers we take off the streets of Staten Island, the safer those streets become."
Police got word of the large, multi-borough drug ring in 2014 after the heroin-related death of Jonathan Crupi, 21, of Great Kills.
A text message about drugs was sent to Crupi's phone from Nicholas Sanchez, a known drug dealer, Master said.
When investigating Sanchez, authorities found out he started to run drugs for Bonilla shortly after Crupi's death, Master said.
The ring used rented cars to deal drugs throughout the city and Bonilla and Alvarado had their girlfriends — Erica Bijole and Charileni Munoz — rent the vehicles and deal the heroin, Master said.
Bonilla, of Staten Island, was in charge of the day to day operations of the ring — which spanned all the way to Yonkers — from July 2014 until he was arrested in March for possession of heroin, the DA said.
Alvarado, who spent his time in both the Bronx and Staten Island, became the head of the ring while Bonilla was behind bars.
Their mother, Ailxa Bonilla of Brooklyn, would talk to her sons about the operation and would have her rent paid by the brothers, presumably with the money they made selling heroin, Master said.
When Justin Bonilla was arrested, his mother picked up his cellphones from the precinct so Alverado could take over the drug ring and visited him four times at Rikers Island to discuss the business, Master said.
Alvarado's sister — Laurie Alvarado — was also arrested in the sting, dubbed "Operation Lost Boys." She was in possession of marijuana, a muscle relaxer, a bucket of rice, which is commonly used to keep heroin dry, and about $210,000 in cash, the DA said.
Police also recovered a .32-caliber revolver, 50 grams of uncut heroin, 57 glassines of heroin and 44 Suboxone strips.
Twelve people were indicted by the DA in the sting, with two suspects were still outstanding, Master said.
Justin Bonilla, Robert Alvarado, Elvis Moreno, Dana Lizak, Eric Pena, Anthony Cianci and Richard Farina were indicted for criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and face a maximum of nine years in prison, the DA said.
Aixa Bonilla, Charlieni Munoz and Kevin Maltexo were indicted on conspiracy charges and face up to four years in prison, the DA said.
Nicholas Sanchez and Brittany Kravitz were indicted on criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree and up to two-and-a-half years in prison, the DA said.
