TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that a state grand jury today
returned an indictment charging 19 alleged
members of a Newark-based narcotics ring,
including its leader, with first-degree
racketeering and other crimes in connection
with the ring’s distribution of millions
of dollars a year in illegal prescription
painkillers such as OxyContin.
As
a result of the grand jury action, the Division
of Criminal Justice obtained a court order
today seizing $4.4 million in assets as
proceeds of racketeering, including $3.6
million in real estate and a $95,000 Mercedes
S-550 owned by the alleged leader of the
ring, Mohamed Hassanain, 41, of West Orange.
Also seized was nearly $600,000 found when
investigators searched the home of Dr. Mario
Comesanas in January. Comesanas pleaded
guilty in March to first-degree racketeering
and second-degree distribution of narcotics
for writing thousands of fraudulent prescriptions
for the ring. The charges resulted from
an investigation by the State Police and
the Division of Criminal Justice, assisted
by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“The
volume of illegal prescription painkillers
put on the street by this Newark-based ring
was alarming,” said Attorney General
Milgram. “This criminal ring’s
enterprise of distributing illegal pain
pills was built with forged identities,
fraudulent prescriptions and illegal purchases
at pharmacies. Ultimately, their output
of thousands of dangerous pills per week
reached the streets of New Jersey, New York
and Boston.”
According
to Paw, the state grand jury returned a
34-count indictment charging all 19 defendants
with first-degree racketeering, second-degree
conspiracy (two counts), second-degree theft
of identity, and third-degree forgery. The
racketeering charge carries a sentence of
10 to 20 years in state prison and a criminal
fine of up to $200,000. Hassanain also was
charged with being a leader of a narcotics
trafficking network, a first-degree charge
that carries a sentence of life in prison.
Some of the defendants, including Hassanain,
face various other charges including second-degree
drug and weapons offenses. A list of the
defendants is attached, and the indictment
is linked to this release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
“Today’s
indictment resulted from a superb investigation
by the State Police and the Division of
Criminal Justice that targeted the top members
of this multi-million dollar criminal enterprise,”
said Director Paw. “We dismantled
this dangerous ring with help from the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration and numerous
other law enforcement partners. With this
indictment, we bring those responsible one
step closer to justice.”
“Those
who traffic in illegal drugs come from all
walks of life, but their devastating impact
on society and individual lives remains
the same,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes,
Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.
“We are proud to have helped stop
this sophisticated distribution ring and
reduce the flow of illegal prescription
drugs on our streets.”
In
pleading guilty, Dr. Comesanas, 51, of Livingston,
admitted he went to Hassanain’s home
on Edgar Road in West Orange to write thousands
of fraudulent painkiller prescriptions.
Hassanain’s cousin, pharmacist Ahmed
F. “Felix”Aly, 33, of Union,
is alleged to have knowingly filled the
forged prescriptions at his pharmacy, RGN
Pharmacy on Elizabeth Avenue in Newark.
He was charged in the indictment. Hassanain,
who sometimes uses the alias Mohamed Aly,
allegedly ran the ring from his business,
Lyons Avenue Auto Sales on Clinton Avenue
in Newark, as well as his home. Those three
men were arrested on Jan. 26, when warrants
were issued for most of the defendants.
The
investigation, which began in mid-2006 and
was dubbed “Operation Pandora,”
determined that the network sold 20,000
to 30,000 OxyContin and Percocet pills per
week, with most going to a distribution
ring based in the Bronx, N.Y. The Bronx
ring in turn sold some of the drugs to a
distribution ring in the Boston area. Approximately
22,000 prescription pills were seized in
January when officers executed search warrants
at a number locations used by the Newark
ring.
Hassanain
and his deputies allegedly provided up to
several hundred names a week to Dr. Comesanas,
who allegedly was paid $100 per name to
write a “set” of prescriptions,
including 60 OxyContin pills, 90 Percocet
pills and vitamins. Vitamins allegedly were
included to make the prescriptions appear
more legitimate. Hassanain and his deputies
allegedly used numerous “runners”
to fill the prescriptions at various pharmacies
using fraudulent identifications. It is
alleged that the defendants also forged
identification documents and that certain
defendants laundered money to further their
criminal activities.
The
indictment was handed up to Superior Court
Judge Maria Marinari Sypek in Mercer County.
The judge ordered the $4.4 million in assets
seized and restrained under the racketeering
forfeiture provisions of state law based
on a finding by the grand jury that the
assets were acquired or maintained with
proceeds of the ring’s illegal activities.
>> View
Indictment (76.7k
pdf) plug-in
The
indictment is merely an accusation and the
defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty.
Second-degree
crimes carry a sentence of up to 10 years
in prison and a $150,000 criminal fine,
while third-degree crimes carry a sentence
of up to five years in prison and a $15,000
fine.
Attorney
General Milgram credited detectives in the
State Police Major Crime Unit and investigators
in the Division of Criminal Justice - Organized
Crime & Racketeering Bureau for leading
the investigation. Supervising Deputy Attorney
General Mark Eliades and Deputy Attorney
General Mark Ondris presented the case to
the grand jury.
Attorney
General Milgram also credited the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration New Jersey Division,
under the direction of Special Agent in
Charge Gerard P. McAleer, the Essex County
Prosecutor’s Office, members of the
NY/NJ High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas
program, and the New York State Police for
assisting the investigation. She thanked
the New Jersey Department of Corrections,
Newark Police Department, West Orange Police
Department, Livingston Police Department,
Irvington Police Department Maplewood Police
Department, Union Township Police Department
and Essex County Sheriff’s Department
for assisting in the arrests and execution
of search warrants in January.
Defendants:
-
Mohamed Hassanain
West Orange, NJ
DOB: 1/19/1966
- Ahmed
Aly
Union, NJ
DOB: 4/16/1974
- William
S. Leonard
Orange, NJ
DOB: 5/20/1951
- Will
T. Jordon
Elizabeth, NJ
DOB: 02/16/1971
- Terry
A. Brooks
Newark, NJ
DOB: 12/17/1975
-
Tereke M. Hammond
Newark, NJ
DOB: 11/26/1976
- Enin
Martin
Newark, NJ
DOB: 02/11/1980
- Woodrow
Newton
West Orange, NJ
DOB: 06/25/1961
-
Stephanie McLucas
Maplewood, NJ
DOB: 12/14/1952
-
Jason Edwin Allen, Jr.
Newark, NJ
DOB: 12/11/1979
- Edwin
Polanco
New York, NY
DOB: 09/08/1978
-
Raul Cruz
Bronx, NY
DOB: 02/08/1979
- Ian
A. Burrowes
Union, NJ
DOB: 02/06/1966
- Aaron
Burrowes
Union, NJ
DOB: 07/03/1979
- Rick
Terrell
Newark, NJ
DOB: 02/12/1950
-
Tasheemah N. Tyson
Newark, NJ
DOB: 11/10/1980
-
Kimyatta L. Jones
Newark, NJ
DOB: 05/06/1979
-
Jashima Brice
Irvington, NJ
DOB: 01/10/1952
-
Patricia Fudge
Newark, NJ
DOB: 11/06/1960
Top
Assets
Seized/Restrained as Proceeds of Racketeering
Real
Property
(Block / Lot -- Address -- Purchase Date
-- Purchase $)
-
158.20(T) / 8 -- 30 Edgar Road, West Orange
-- 7/14/2005 -- $525,000.00
- 3033
/ 10 -- 332 Clinton Avenue, Newark --
10/31/2005 -- $259,000.00
- 506
/ 9 -- 56 Highland Avenue, Newark -- 11/17/2005
-- $300,000.00
- 56
/ 6 -- 21 N. 18th Street, East Orange
-- 12/1/2005 -- $245,000.00
- 1778
/ 56 -- 196 So. 6th Street, Newark --
12/15/2005 -- $145,000.00
- 3697
/ 4 -- 47 Park View Terrace, Newark --
12/19/2005 -- $335,000.00
-
3078 / 25 -- 18 Fabyan Place, Newark --
12/23/2005 -- $238,500.00
- 116
/ 80 -- 389 Halsey Street, Newark -- 12/28/2005
-- $85,000.00
- 1814
/ 54 -- 222 S 11th Street, Newark -- 1/14/2006
-- $115,000.00
-
2692 / 11 -- 117 Ridgewood Avenue, Newark
-- 1/30/2006 -- $310,000.00
- 2648
/ 41 -- 796 South 14th Street, Newark
-- 2/23/2006 -- $1.00
- 3027.01
/ 8 -- 98-100 Osborne Terrace, Newark
-- 3/10/2006 -- $234,600.00
- 2618
/ 21 -- 661 South 11th St., Newark --
4/18/2006 -- $460,000.00
- 3950
/ 30 -- 214 Hawthorne Ave, Newark -- 6/14/2006
-- $320,000.00
- 257
/ 6 -- 348 Springfield Avenue, Newark
-- 7/7/2006 -- $65,000.00
- 246
/ 16 -- 42 Quabeck Ave, Irvington -- 12/8/2006
-- $1.00
Total Value Real Property: $3,637,102.00
U.S Currency: $680,429
Vehicle: 2007 Mecedes S-550 --
$95,000
TOTAL VALUE ASSETS SEIZED / RESTRAINED:
$4,412,531.00
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