THE BRONX — A Bronx postal worker and five other people were busted for smuggling cocaine from Puerto Rico to High Bridge through the mail, the Brooklyn federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Jermaine “Amigo” Sandifer, 40, would intercept packages stuffed with one to two kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico at the Highbridge Postal Station and then distribute them to members of the ring, according to the U.S. Attorney and court papers. He was arraigned in Brooklyn Federal court on Wednesday.
“However creative drug traffickers are in delivering their lethal product to our shores and the streets of our communities, we and our partners in law enforcement are committed to stopping them,” United States Attorney Robert Capers said in a statement.
Sandifer, who lives in New Jersey, was able to identify the packages by their pre-arranged Bronx addresses and was paid between $1,000 and $5,000 per shipment.
The four other members of the crew — Kelvin Cisnero Santos, 48, Saul Ovalles Corniel, 40, Carlos Bello Tirado, 40, and Ernest Pena, 40 — were arrested Thursday.
The crew also mailed packages to “numerous” post office boxes in Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx and New Jersey, according to officials.
The four men busted Thursday also laundered money from the drug sales through various bank accounts in the New York metropolitan area.
Santos, Corniel and Pena were expected to be arraigned in Federal Court on Thursday.
Tirado was expected to be arraigned in his home state of Florida and then extradited.
Sandifer was released on $300,000 bail. His lawyer, Michael Soroka, declined to comment.