TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni
announced that a New York man pleaded guilty
today to racketeering for running cash and
narcotics between the Bronx and Newark as
part of a Newark-based ring that distributed
millions of dollars a year in illegal prescription
painkillers such as OxyContin.
According
to Director Gramiccioni, Edwin Polanco, 30,
of New York, N.Y., pleaded guilty to first-degree
racketeering before Superior Court Judge Michael
J. Nelson in Essex County. The state will
recommend that he be sentenced to up to 14
years in prison. Judge Nelson scheduled Polanco’s
sentencing for June 19.
In
pleading guilty, Polanco admitted that he
was a runner who acted as a conduit in an
illicit supply chain that brought narcotics
from New Jersey to New York. Polanco admitted
that every other day he delivered $30,000
to $40,000 in cash to co-defendants in New
Jersey for the purchase of narcotics. He said
he returned to New York with 10,000 to 14,000
prescription pills per week that were given
to others in the group for further sale and
distribution.
The
alleged leader of the ring, Mohamed Hassanain,
43, of West Orange, is currently on trial
before Judge Nelson, along with three other
defendants: Woodrow Newton, 47, of Newark,
Ian A. Burrowes, 33, of Union, and Aaron Burrowes,
29, of Union. They are being tried by Supervising
Deputy Attorney General Mark Eliades, chief
of the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau, and Deputy Attorneys
General Mark Ondris and Paul Salvatoriello.
Eliades and Ondris took today’s guilty
plea.
The
narcotics ring was dismantled as a result
of “Operation Pandora,” an investigation
conducted by the New Jersey State Police and
Division of Criminal Justice with assistance
from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Investigators 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 ring in
the Boston area.
Arrests
were made in December 2006 and January 2007,
and the Division of Criminal Justice obtained
a state grand jury indictment on Aug. 2, 2007
charging Hassanain and 18 other members of
the ring. Fifteen defendants have entered
guilty pleas.
Prior
to the indictment, Dr. Mario Comesanas, 53,
of Livingston pleaded guilty to first-degree
racketeering and second-degree distribution
of narcotics for writing thousands of fraudulent
prescriptions for the ring. He faces up to
15 years in prison, forfeited $593,000 seized
in his home, and permanently forfeited his
New Jersey medical license.
In
pleading guilty, Comesanas 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,
35, of Union, is charged with knowingly filling
the forged prescriptions at his pharmacy,
RGN Pharmacy on Elizabeth Avenue in Newark.
Hassanain allegedly ran the ring from his
business, Lyons Avenue Auto Sales on Clinton
Avenue in Newark, as well as his home. Hassanain
and his deputies allegedly used numerous runners
to fill the prescriptions at various pharmacies
using fraudulent identifications.
Attorney
General Milgram credited detectives in the
State Police Major Crime Unit and investigators
in the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau. She 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 in the investigation.
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