NEW YORK—Four men operating a cocaine ring in New York City were indicted Monday in connection with four murders in the Dominican Republic.
While tapping the men’s phones for a year and a half, New York City prosecutors learned that the ringleader had ordered the murders of four men in the Dominican Republic, three of whom who belonged to a rival cocaine ring.
Their leader, Rafael Alvares and his three accomplices: Wander Espinal, Danny Joel Rodriguez, and Carlos Hilario were charged with 25 counts, including homicide charges and conspiracy to distribute narcotics in the New York City area.
“They are significant players in New York,” said New York Drug Enforcement Administration (NYDEA) Special Agent-In-Charge John P. Gilbride. “This organization has the ability to traffic hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the New York City region—and they do.”
Killings
Investigators at the NYDEA, the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, and 11 other government agencies partnered with Dominican authorities to investigate the case. They found that Alvares ordered one of the men to pick up shipments of cocaine at Pelham Parkway and Barnes Ave. in the Bronx for distribution in Manhattan.
On September 20, 2007, law enforcement agents seized five kilos of cocaine in Upper Manhattan. The drugs were to be sold to a man named Jesus Santos. Despite never being able to deliver the drugs to Santos, Alvares demanded that Santos pay up. To escape the debt, Santos fled to the Dominican Republic.
Undeterred, Alvares directed his men to kill Santos in November 2007. In trying to carry out the mission, the hit men shot to death another man who they mistook for Santos.
Three other men were killed under Alvares’ instruction: Alex Pepa, Eddy Jimenez, and Francisco Reynoso, who were drug traffickers in the Dominican Republic. Investigators believe that Alvares had business and personal conflicts with the men.
“These arrests demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between drug trafficking and violence,” said Gilbride. Alvares and his men are being held in Riker’s Island. They were arraigned Monday afternoon in New York.
Cocaine in New York
The Bronx and Northern Manhattan are hot spots for drug trade. A cocaine ring operating out of the restaurant Pizza & Heros on Westchester Ave. in the Bronx was discovered and disbanded in early April. Shortly thereafter, another drug trafficker pled guilty to charges of plotting to sell cocaine as part of an organization that worked from city housing on Dyckman Ave. in Upper Manhattan.
Colombian and Mexican drug trafficking organizations are the primary transporters and distributors of wholesale amounts of cocaine in New York, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Shipments of cocaine brought to the city are distributed in small amounts throughout the state and the Eastern United States. Last year, 1,481.1 kilograms of cocaine was seized across New York State, according to USDEA statistics.
Among the five boroughs, cocaine seizures rank the highest in the Bronx with 190 last year. Manhattan had 176; Brooklyn 56; Queens 52; and Staten Island 1, according to statistics from the NYDEA.
