STATEN ISLAND — A takedown of a crew that sold heroin and cocaine inside Staten Island's Stapleton Houses for at least five months resulted in the arrests of 11 people, Acting District Attorney Daniel Master Jr. said.
The suspects were hit with a 98-count indictment for selling the drugs at the public housing facility from February 2015 until July 16. Their arrests followed an investigation called "Devil's Island," Master said.
“With Staten Island in the throes of a drug epidemic, these individuals, four of whom are violent ex-convicts, essentially turned the Stapleton Houses and the surrounding area into an open air drug market and peddled heroin and cocaine to vulnerable abusers,” Master said.
“Thanks to months of hard work by my prosecutors and the dedicated detectives of the NYPD, law enforcement has effectively cut off a major drug supplier to this borough and likely saved countless lives.”
According to prosecutors, Hector Vasquez, 50, of Manhattan, supplied the drugs to Louis "Wigs" Quiles.
Quiles, 41, then gave the drugs to Luis "Luigi" Jimenez, 50, who supplied them to dealers Joseph "Joe Black" Williams, Timothy "Zedge" Carter, Jose Dematta, Chineida "Neida" Lopez and Thomas "Tito/Pop" Mbaye.
Jimenez was also accused of directing the dealers where and when to make drop-offs of the drugs and collect money.
According to prosecutors, the suspects spoke in coded language about their dealing and investigators intercepted phone calls where they talked about replenishing their supply and arranging sales inside neighborhood businesses and parking lots.
Christopher Sherrod was also arrested in the sting for buying heroin from Quiles then selling it to customers. Anthony "Tone" Johnson was also arrested for selling cocaine to Jimenez and Calvin "Killer" Green.
Quiles, Jimenez, Williams, Carter, Dematta and Lopez were charged with conspiracy at their arraignment and face up to 25 years in jail if found guilty.
Quiles previously did jail time for assault, Williams for rape and Dematta for burglary, the DA said.
Mbaye, who's only accused of selling cocaine, turned himself in on Thursday and was charged with conspiracy at his arraignment. He was released without bail, prosecutors said.
Vasquez was charged with first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, the DA said.
Sherrod and Johnson were charged with third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and face up to 12 years in jail.
Green, who previously did jail time for murder, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and faces up to nine years in jail, the DA said.
