Feds seize $7M in ‘Fire’ fentanyl in Sedgwick apt.
BY JASON COHEN
Seven million dollarsworth of fentanyl
was taken off the street last week
during a west Bronx drug bust.
On Wednesday, January 28, law enforcement,
announced the arrests of
six individuals in connection with a
large-scale narcotics packaging and
distribution network operating in
Kingsbridge.
The long-term investigation culminated
in the feds seizing approximately
750,000 glassine envelopes of suspected
heroin/fentanyl from an apartment at
2559 Sedgwick Avenue during a courtauthorized
search.
“This enforcement operation shows
that heroin is still the neighborhood
stalker bringing danger and death
to our doorsteps,” said DEA Special
Agent in Charge Ray Donovan.
“This seizure is incredibly signifi -
cant because it has saved hundreds
of thousands of people from starting
a cycle of opioid addiction by removing
three quarters of a million heroin
fi lled glassines from a one-bedroom
apartment in the Bronx. Great police
work and a common goal go a long way
in keeping our city safe from the dangers
of illegal drugs,” he added.
Members of the DEA’s New York
Drug Enforcement Task Force and investigators
with the Offi ce of the Special
Narcotics Prosecutor conducted
several days of intensive physical and
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,18 FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020 BTR
Fentanyl found in a $7 million bust in Kingsbirdge.
Photo Courtesy Offi ce of the Special Narcotics
Prosecutor For the City of New York
Fentanyl that was found in a $7 million bust
in Kingsbridge.
Offi ce of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor For the
City of New York
video surveillance at the seven-story
residential building.
Over the course of the weekend,
they observed a total of eight individuals
coming and going from apartment
6A at the Sedgwick location, the suspected
narcotics packaging mill.
Agents and offi cers recognized
some of the suspects from prior surveillance
of the unit.
The bust yielded hundreds of thousands
of glassine envelopes.
The illegal contraband covered two
tabletops and overfl owed out of plastic
bins and cardboard boxes onto the
fl oor and a bed.
Equipment and paraphernalia typical
of a heroin/fentanyl mill were present
in the room, including a glass table,
desk lamps, a scale, grinders, empty
glassine envelopes, small spoons, an
inkbottle, inkpads and stamps.
Livo Valdez, Jaslin Baldera, Frederick
Baldera, Frandi Ledema, Diego
Tejada, and Pafraimy Antonio are
charged with criminal possession of
a controlled substance in the fi rst and
third degrees and criminally using
drug paraphernalia in the second degree.
The defendants were arraigned
on the same day.
“The sheer volume of heroin and
fentanyl packages assembled in a small
apartment just off the Major Deegan
Expressway in the Bronx is shocking,”
said Special Narcotics Prosecutor
Bridget Brennan.
Even veteran narcotics investigators
were surprised by the output of
this packaging operation, which was
run out of a nondescript apartment
in the borough affl icted by the city’s
highest rate of overdose death.
“The arrests of six individuals, and
drug-fi lled envelopes destined for distribution
here and in New England,
underscore New York City’s role as
a hub for mass distribution of deadly
drugs. I thank the Drug Enforcement
Task Force and the investigators and
prosecutors from the Offi ce of the Special
Narcotics Prosecutor for their dedication
and commitment to preventing
lethal drugs from ever reaching our
communities,” Brennan said.
The alledged drug dealers were
released without bail on the day they
were arrested.
DEP’s reservoir basin letter doesn’t please everyone
BY JASON COHEN
While the NYC Department of Environmental
Protection reversed its
plan to keep the Jerome Park Reservoir
basin empty, a letter sent to Community
Board 8 on Monday, Febuary 3
revealed the agency may not be fully
committing to the community’s demands
.
The letter stated that DEP Commissioner
Vincent Sapienza has set a
new agency policy requiring a minimum
of approximately fi ve to eight
feet of water in the north basin year
round.
According to the DEP, this amount
of water will cover infrastructure at
the bottom of the reservoir while also
providing enough free space in the
basin to capture water from the New
Croton Aqueduct if the fi ltration plant
shuts down for an emergency.
Upcoming work will require drainage
of both basins to access, repair and
fi x the section of the wall that runs
along the Old Croton Aqueduct.
During the construction period, at
least one basin will be kept fi lled. The
NYS Historic Preservation Offi ce and
the NYC Public Design Commission
have signed off on these plans.
However, local environmental
groups are not on board with the plan.
“I am not happy that the water in
the north basin will be only fi ve to
eight feet,” said Karen Argetni of the
Bronx Council for Environmental
Equality.”
Argenti blasted the DEP for not having
made arrangements for an emergency
situation when it originally built
the $4 billion Croton Filter Plant.
“For them to say they need it now,
after six years of the plant being up
and running, is really bad planning,”
she said.
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Jeffrey
Dinowitz, who grew up across
the street from the reservoir, said this
project has been a personal issue to
him for many years. The assemblyman
said he has mixed feelings on the
DEP’s plan.
Dinowitz is glad the DEP responded
to the public outcry, but feels it did not
go far enough to resolve the community’s
complaint.
“I understand that DEP wants to
plan for overfl ow and emergency conditions
at the Croton Filtration Plant,
but frankly this should have been
something they thought about several
decades ago when the agency was
taking away our parkland in the fi rst
place,” Dinowitz stated.
“I think the consensus in our community
is that anything less than a
restoration of a reasonable amount of
water at a reasonable height in the reservoir,
meaning water that is clearly
visible from adjacent buildings and
parks, is unacceptable,” he added.
In October 2019, the DEP sent a letter
contending that the agency’s intention
to leave the north basin of the
Jerome Park Reservoir empty didn’t
require an environmental impact
study.
The spokesman also stated that if
required to facilitate the capital project,
the basin might be drained temporarily.
In January 2018, DEP announced
the start of a $15 million project to
rehabilitate gatehouses, install new,
lower fencing and upgrade security infrastructure
at the reservoir.
Work on the project began late in
2018, will continue through 2021 and
will help to ensure the long-term reliability
of the city’s Croton water supply
system.
Residents have fi led a petition with the DEP to not keep the basin of Jerome Park Reservoir
empty. Schneps Media Jason Cohen