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6 Busted for Selling $25K in Opioids Near Prep School in Brooklyn

By Katie Honan | May 26, 2017 11:26am
 Raymond Raimondi was photographed by investigators leaving a Bensonhurst pharmacy.
Raymond Raimondi was photographed by investigators leaving a Bensonhurst pharmacy.
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Special Narcotics Prosecutor

DYKER HEIGHTS — An prescription opioid drug crew peddled thousands of pills near a fancy Brooklyn prep school during the fall semester last year, authorities said.

Six people were arrested Thursday for filling opioid prescriptions and then selling the drugs near Poly Prep Country Day School in Dyker Heights, according to officials.

The defendants were charged with filling prescriptions for more than 2,800 oxycodone pills over three months from pharmacies on Staten Island and in Brooklyn.

They were busted through a wiretapping investigation in 2016 by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Staten Island’s district attorney’s office and the NYPD.

Ringleader Raymond Raimondi sold 1,900 pills to undercover NYPD officers 15 times, with many of the sales taking place near the prep school, officials said.

The 64-year-old Elm Park resident, accompanied by Jeffrey Tesoro, 50, also sold opioids to an undercover officer at a Home Depot parking lot, authorities said.

The sales netted at least $25,000, police said.

► READ MORE: Families Torn Apart By Opioid Epidemic

"The defendants are charged with distributing thousands of addictive pills and pocketing thousands in cash collected in the areas of the city most affected by the opioid crisis," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said in a statement. 

"Selling lethal drugs as neighbors overdose and die is deeply disturbing."

Tesoro and the other defendants — Vincent Maniscalco, 55, of New Jersey; Paul Consentino, 62, of Brooklyn; Robert Florio, 52, of Brooklyn; and Louisa Valentin, 53, of Brooklyn — helped collect pills from pharmacies and resold them to Raimondi, officials said.

They were arraigned Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court. 

Drug overdose deaths are up 22 percent across the city this year, with many of the deaths traced to heroin laced with fentanyl, according to the NYPD.