FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 21, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 21
Fresh Meadows man sentenced for running
a drug traffi cking ring in South Jamaica
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
A Fresh Meadows man will spend the
next seven years behind bars for selling
heroin in a South Jamaica public housing
complex.
Lamont Moran, 30, pleaded guilty this
past April to running a heroin distribution
operation near the Baisley Park
Houses from 2015 until his arrest in
September 2016. He was sentenced to 84
months in jail.
According to court fi lings, Moran was
affi liated with the violent street gang “Get
it in Stacks” (“GI$”), a subset of the
nationwide Bloods gang operating near
the Baisley Park Houses. Moran supervised
street-level dealers, including at
least one GI$ member and several elderly
heroin addicts, who distributed heroin
and fentanyl. Th e drugs were labeled with
brand names such as “Batman,” “Call of
Duty” and “Sleepys.”
Moran also sold heroin and fentanyl
directly to users. From March to August
of 2016, Moran made more than 15 drug
sales to a confi dential FBI source. On
many of these occasions, the defendant
sold the source fentanyl instead of heroin
— without ever revealing this fact to
the source.
Moran was arrested in September 2016.
He acknowledged in post-arrest statements
that he personally did not use heroin:
“I don’t use this expletive. I don’t
touch this expletive. … I don’t view
it as drugs, I view it as money.” Police
searched Moran’s phone and found more
evidence of gang affi liation, plus photographs
of Moran with wads of cash and
multiple fi rearms.
Four other defendants have been
charged with heroin distribution crimes
in this case, and each has pleaded guilty.
Michael Singletary, 43, was sentenced to
a year and a day of imprisonment for a
single incident of heroin distribution on
Aug. 8. David Young, 66, one of Moran’s
street-level dealers, was sentenced to
36 months’ imprisonment on Oct. 3.
William Parker, 53, a career off ender and
another one of the defendant’s street-level
dealers — was sentenced to 96 months’
imprisonment on Oct. 27. Dennis Pristell,
57, a street-level dealer who worked for
Moran, is awaiting sentencing.
“Th e defendant Lamont Moran promoted
and profi ted from the opioid epidemic
in our District,” said Acting United
States Attorney Bridget M. Rohde. “Today
he was held accountable. Together with
our law enforcement partners, this offi ce
will continue to investigate and prosecute
those like the defendant who seek to line
their own pockets by selling these dangerous
drugs and harming our community.”
Photos courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s
Offi ce for the Eastern District of New
York
Cops nab suspects
in rapper's murder
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Two Long Island men have been
charged with the murder of Ozone Park
rapper Chinx (Lionel Pickens), 31, who
was fatally shot in Briarwood in May
2015.
Queens District Attorney Richard
A. Brown announced on Dec. 14 that
Jamar Hill, 26, and Quincy Homere, 32,
were charged with one count each of
second-degree murder, second-degree
attempted murder, fi rst-degree assault
and two counts of second-degree criminal
possession of a weapon. If convicted,
they each face up to 25 years to life
in prison.
According to charges, at 4:04 a.m. on
May 17, 2015, Hill and Homere followed
Pickens from Brooklyn to Queens aft er
Pickens performed at a nightclub. Hills
and Homere fi red a weapon at Pickens’
Porsche near Main Street and Queens
Boulevard, striking Pickens and his passenger,
27-year-old Antar Alziadi, multiple
times.
Offi cers from the 107th Precinct and
EMS units responded to the scene. Both
men were rushed to Jamaica where
Pickens was pronounced dead and
Alziadi was treated for his injuries.
“In another example of the mindless
gun violence plaguing our country, a
young, up-and-coming musician had
his life and career dramatically cut short
by a burst of senseless shooting that also
wounded an acquaintance,” Brown said.
“Such violence has no place in a civilized
society.”
Two men arrested for trying to steal
Christmas gifts in south Queens
BY RYAN KELLEY
rkelley@ridgewoodtimes.com
@R_Kelley6
Two men were arrested in Queens on
Dec. 17 when they attempted to steal a
package that had been delivered to a local
residence.
Th e suspects, 20-year-old Jose Espinal
from Queens and 18-year-old Aron Abud
from Brooklyn, allegedly removed a package
containing an Xbox left outside of a
home on 117th Street near 133rd Avenue
in South Ozone Park at around 4 p.m. on
Dec. 17, according to police.
Police responded to a 911 call from a
witness saying that two males had gotten
out of a vehicle, removed the package
from the residence, and got back into the
car to fl ee the scene. Th e offi cers pulled the
vehicle over in front of a home on 114th
Place near Sutter Avenue. Authorities said
the offi cers found the package, already
opened, inside the vehicle.
Espinal and Abud were charged with
petit larceny and criminal possession of
stolen property. Th ey have yet to appear
in court for arraignment, according to the
Queens District Attorney’s offi ce.
Th e NYPD’s 106th Precinct shared the
news on Twitter that the package was
safely returned to its intended owner.
File Photo/QNS
Photos by Robert Stridiron
Two alleged package thefts are walked into the 106th Precinct after their arrest on Dec. 17.