Long-term Undercover Eavesdropping Investigation Led to Dismantling of Organization, and Recovery of Cocaine, Firearms, and More Than $1 Million in Narcotics Proceeds.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictments against 22 members of a major Manhattan narcotics trafficking organization based in East Harlem. Three defendants – CEFERINO PEREZ, a/k/a “Papo,” 44, NELSON REJAB, 43, and GERMAN TORRES, a/k/a/ “Mouse,” 37 – are charged with Operating As a Major Trafficker, also known as the “Drug Kingpin” statute, a class A-I felony carrying a potential life sentence. All 22 defendants are charged with Conspiracy in the Second Degree, among other charges, for their participation in the narcotics organization.[1]
“This joint investigation by the NYPD and the Manhattan DA’s Office brought down an entire, notorious drug operation, whose kingpin was so well-insulated that for years he was virtually untouchable,” said District Attorney Vance. “For decades our communities have suffered because of the violence, decay and addition drug dealing has brought to our City. By working with our law enforcement partners to attack these organizations at the highest level, we will continue to make this city safer block-by-block, neighborhood by neighborhood.”
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said: “Employing shift workers armed with business cards, work cell phones and company cars, the individuals indicted today operated a million-dollar drug delivery service like a busy dry cleaner or pizza parlor. Instead of shirts or slices these criminals were moving cocaine and cash. I commend the NYPD detectives and the District Attorney’s Office for their work in removing these drug dealers from our streets.”
According to documents filed in court, beginning in early 2010, members of the District Attorney’s Office’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit and detectives from the NYPD’s Narcotics Division, Manhattan North Major Case Team, initiated a covert undercover operation aimed at dismantling one of the City’s major narcotics distribution networks. According to court documents and today’s charges, PEREZ is one of the principal dealers of powder cocaine in Manhattan, having operated his narcotics business in East Harlem for more than 25 years. As stated in court, authorities estimate that the PEREZ Organization was responsible for approximately $1.75 million worth of cocaine sales each year in Manhattan.
During the period charged in the indictment, PEREZ operated a lucrative cocaine delivery service that employed a dozen street-level cocaine dealers, working daily shifts, seven days a week. The street-level dealers were provided with “company” cars and cellular telephones, which allowed them to travel throughout Manhattan to make sales. Workers had business cards to distribute to customers, with the cellular telephone number of the cocaine delivery service printed on the face of the card (see below). The PEREZ organization maintained stash houses in the Bronx and Westchester County, where narcotics and proceeds of narcotics sales were stored and where multiple kilograms of cocaine were broken down, bagged up, heat sealed and bundled for distribution to the organization’s workers. In a representative 45 day period in April and May, 2011, PEREZ’s workers sold in excess of 4,200 bags of powder cocaine, with a street value of more than $80,000. Authorities estimate that the narcotics delivery service operated by PEREZ generated more than $650,000 in cocaine sales per year.
In addition to the delivery service arm of the business, PEREZ is alleged to have operated as a major supplier of powder cocaine to various street-level cocaine and crack-cocaine operations throughout Manhattan. From this portion of his operation, which sold cocaine in amounts including quarter, half and full kilograms, PEREZ is estimated to have generated in excess of $1.1 million in sales of cocaine per year.
According to court documents, sources of supply for PEREZ were REJAB, an East Harlem resident and business owner who served as the multi-kilogram supplier of cocaine to PEREZ and his organization, and TORRES, a longtime East Harlem resident who had relocated to City Island in the Bronx. PEREZ, REJAB and TORRES regularly engaged in large-scale, kilogram and multi-kilogram cocaine transactions, with each kilo priced at approximately $35,000. REJAB and TORRES supplied PEREZ with multiple kilograms of cocaine throughout the course of the investigation.
Within the last 48 hours, detectives from Manhattan North Narcotics executed a series of search warrants at locations in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester County. During the execution of those warrants, detectives recovered in excess of $1 million in narcotics proceeds, including more than $550,000 in cash and more than $600,000 in gold jewelry, including diamonds and Rolex watches, which is believed to have been purchased with drug proceeds. Nine cars, including a 2009 Mercedes, a 2009 Land Rover, and a 2011 Volvo, plus a custom-made motorcycle and a jet ski, were recovered, as well as high-end designer goods from Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and two vehicles used in connection with the day-to-day operation of the narcotics business. Detectives also recovered three loaded firearms, including a MAC-11 semiautomatic machine pistol, more than six pounds of marijuana, and in excess of approximately $80,000 worth of cocaine.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Prevost of the District Attorney’s Office’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Christopher Ryan, Chief of the Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit, and Executive Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, Chief of the Trial Division. Investigative Analysts Charles Bennett and James LaRusso have assisted with this investigation.
District Attorney Vance thanked the NYPD, particularly members of Manhattan North Narcotics: Inspector Lori Pollock, Deputy Inspector James Klein, Captain Gregg Hough, Lieutenant James Curry, Sergeant Mark MacDonnell, Detective Jeffrey Carroll, Detective Brian Fleming, and the undercover detectives.
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