Bicoastal drug trafficking operation flew 22 tons of cocaine throughout nation, prosecutors say

5 alleged members of a drug trafficking group have been arrested Tuesday and accused of utilizing luxurious non-public transport corporations to fly a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars}’ price of cocaine and money between Los Angeles and New York Metropolis, federal authorities mentioned.

The alleged ringleaders of the group — David “Gotti” Rodriguez and Raymond “White Boy” O’Connell — spent a number of years orchestrating the acquisition and storage of bulk portions of cocaine in Los Angeles to distribute throughout the East Coast earlier than their arrest on a number of drug trafficking and felony enterprise prices final yr, based on an announcement from the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the Central District of California.

On Tuesday, Nohely Jimenez-Ruiz and Lorna “Cookie” Martinez of Los Angeles have been arrested in reference to the operation, the assertion mentioned. Jamel Donald Levy and Bruce Adams of New York and Cindy Rachel Imbert of New Jersey have been additionally arrested.

Federal authorities have accused Rodriguez and O’Connell of utilizing a downtown Los Angeles jewellery retailer as a entrance for a posh drug operation that used luxurious freight corporations to ship hid containers of cocaine to New York Metropolis’s Diamond District, beginning way back to 2013. After transport the medication over state strains by way of air, O’Connell and Rodriguez allegedly shipped the proceeds again west, the place co-conspirators are accused of laundering the cash and disseminating it via the group, the assertion mentioned.

Authorities mentioned that, in whole, a minimum of 800 parcels containing 22 tons of cocaine have been shipped from Los Angeles to New York, with an estimated worth of about $315 million. A further 500 parcels containing a minimum of $105 million in cocaine and money have been transported from New York to Los Angeles.

Throughout the investigation, regulation enforcement seized greater than $2.8 million in money, 1,600 kilos of cocaine, and high-end vehicles and jewellery allegedly bought by the defendants, the assertion mentioned.

Rodriguez and O’Connell have been charged with one rely of partaking in a seamless felony enterprise, one rely of conspiracy to distribute and possession of cocaine, cash laundering and several other different drug-related prices. If convicted, every may face a compulsory life sentence in federal jail, the assertion mentioned.

The 5 further defendants face varied felony conspiracy, drug trafficking and cash laundering prices, mentioned a spokesperson for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the Central District of California.

Regulation enforcement officers are nonetheless looking for further suspects in New York who’re believed to have participated within the group, based on the assertion.