NEW BRIGHTON — A drug ring was taken down in an operation 14 months in the planning, prosecutors said.
Staten island District Attorney Michael McMahon announced the arrest of 13 suspects as part of a 14-month investigation into dealers who started selling in New Brighton to fill a void left by a large drug bust in 2014.
"Let this operation serve as an example that my office and the NYPD are continuing in our combined efforts to arrest and aggressively prosecute individuals who sell deadly illegal drugs on the streets of Staten Island," McMahon said in a statement.
The operation, dubbed "Operation New Blood" because dealers jumped into the neighborhood after 24 members of violent gangs in 2014 were arrested in a takedown, started in February 2015, McMahon said.
During that time, Tyshawn Williams, 25, allegedly sold heroin branded "Predator" and cocaine 10 times to undercover officers, McMahon said.
"This long term investigation affirms the NYPD’s commitment to undermine illicit, violent drug operations in our neighborhoods," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement.
"Aptly nicknamed ‘Predator,’ the narcotics being peddled wreaked havoc on its victims and their families."
Suspected dealers also arrested were Dwan Pegues, 24, who allegedly sold heroin and crack nine times, Jerome Bradshaw, 27, who allegedly sold heroin 10 times, and Joshua Torres, 27, who allegedly sold heroin five times, McMahon said.
Officers executed search warrants at six different spots on Tuesday — including apartments on Jersey Street and Hamilton Avenue — and recovered heroin, crack, oxycodone, marijuana, cash, scales, packaging materials and other drug paraphernalia from inside, McMahon said.
Williams, Pegues, Bradshaw and Torres were charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance at their Wednesday arraignments, prosecutors said.
Also arrested in the bust were Nashawana Benjamin, Gerald Gordon, Dwan Pegues Sr., Marie Connor, Linda Torres, Kendell Newcomb, James Campbell, Kyleik Daniels and Christopher Arena, prosecutors said.
