DRUG DRAGNET ENSNARES 80 INVOLVED IN STREET NARCOTICS IN WHITE PLAINS AND NEW ROCHELLE. 20 STILL AT LARGE. | WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER 3,374,995 VISITS IN ONE YEAR---65,000 VISITS A WEEK BY 985,281 VISITORS

WPCNR MS. DISTRICT ATTORNEY. From the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. December 3, 2014:

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that “City Sweeper 2” a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional street level narcotics investigation resulted in the arrests of approximately 33 individuals in the City of White Plains and 50 individuals in the City of New Rochelle.

White Plains Commissioner of Public Safety, David Chong gave this statement to WPCNR this afternoon:

“The arrests were the result of a collaborative effort by our Narcotics Squad and New Rochelle’s Narcotics squad. We were responding to community complaints of street level

Drug dealing and the uptick in heroin related overdoses all over the tri-state region. Agencies that assisted us included the FBI, the DEA, Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the NYPD and Parole. The cases will be prosecuted by the Westchester County District Attorney.

Sweeps like this are not commonplace in White Plains as we have a good handle on illegal narcotics sales and enforcement of such crimes. In this case we wanted to utilize the resources made available to us through the other agencies and we made our resources available to New Rochelle.

I think this sends a clear message that law enforcement has no borders in this County and that drug dealing will not be tolerated in the streets of White Plains,” Chong wrote WPCNR.

There are arrest warrants outstanding for approximately 20 additional individuals.

The seven-month long investigation by the White Plains Police Department, New Rochelle Police Department, Westchester County Police Department, DEA, FBI and the District Attorney’s office resulted in the charging of a total of 100 individuals for narcotics trafficking.

Each of the 100 subjects has, or will be charged upon their arrest with the street-level sales of controlled substances.

The majority of the sales involved crack-cocaine, although there were a number of heroin sales made throughout the investigation. There were also several sales of hydrocodone, PCP, morphine and fentanyl.

The purchases ranged in price from $20 to $100.

Indictments were obtained on 39 of the approximately 100 subjects of the investigation, and approximately 29 indictments have been unsealed to date in Westchester County Court, charging those 29 with:

two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, class “B” Felonies,
two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, class “B” Felonies.

“All levels of law enforcement, federal, county and local, collaboratively working together, coalesced, allowing this multi-faceted investigation to neutralize dozens of street level narcotics dealers. Of those who have been indicted, we intend to vigorously prosecute the individuals among them who have violent criminal histories or are significant dealers without drug problems. However, we will certainly consider our judicial diversion drug treatment program as an alternative for those who have made these drug sales to support a serious drug problem of their own,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore.

Since November 19^th, 2014, in the City of White Plains, the White Plains Police Department has arrested approximately 33 individuals for drug sales. Arrests of at least six more individuals are expected.

On December 3^rd in the City of New Rochelle, the New Rochelle Police Department has arrested approximately 50 individuals and expects to arrest approximately 14 more.

Bail was set at various amounts for those charged in Westchester County Court. The other individuals have been in arraigned in the City Courts of New Rochelle and White Plains.

Defendants who have prior felony convictions face a maximum of twelve years in prison. Those without prior convictions face a maximum of nine years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Tom Luzio, Chief of the Narcotics Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Kevin Kennedy of the Narcotics Bureau supervised the investigation.