INWOOD — Ten people were arrested and approximately $5 million worth of heroin and drug paraphernalia was seized as part of a heroin bust inside an apartment in Inwood on Thursday night, officials said.
Investigators said more than 10 kilograms of drugs were recovered inside the apartment on 10 Park Terrace East at 7:40 p.m. Thursday, along with 5 kilograms of powdered heroin, 150,000 doses of heroin filled inside glassine envelopes and packaging paraphernalia, such as coffee grinders and diluent.
Officials said the baggies were stamped using hundreds of brand names, such as “$INCOME TAX,” “FENDI,” “PAINKILLER,” “BATMAN” and “SUPERMAN.”
According to a press release from investigators from the Special Narcotics Prosecutors Office, DEA’s Long Island Division Office Task Force, the Port Authority and the NYPD, who all took part in the bust, the "air was thick with heroin and a powdered layer coated the wall moldings and other surfaces in the apartment." The apartment was also equipped with cameras directed towards the building's entrance and street.
Sources said the three-bedroom, $3,700-a-month apartment had all the “hallmarks of a heroin mill."
Steve Mendoza, 23; Cortorreal Rivera, 24; Gittel Pichardo, 31; George Rivera Rivera, 29; Jose Brito, 30 and Freddy Rivera, 35 — who all live in the Inwood apartment — were arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees, as well as criminally using drug paraphernalia.
Christopher Ortiz-Ocasta, 37, from Philadelphia, and Gaspar Mendoza-Sanchez, 27, Manuel Rivera, 29, and Carlos Rivera, 31, all from The Bronx, were also arrested and charged.
Officials said the 10 suspects were in "full-swing" bagging the drugs when they entered the apartment.
The total street value of the heroin, according to investigators, is $5 million with each bag selling for an average of $5 to $10.
