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6-year minimum prison term for heroin network ringleader out of Passaic County

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Passaic County man pleaded guilty today to heading a major heroin supply operation that put kilos of the drug into the hands of suppliers and large-scale dealers each week in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot File Photo

Segundo Garcia, 38, of Prospect Park, aka “Moreno,” admitted that he led a narcotics supply ring that distributed millions of dollars worth of smack from a number of processing “mills” and stash houses in Paterson.

Garcia, a Dominican national, served more than five years in federal prison for drug dealing beginning in 2000.  He was subsequently deported by federal immigration authorities, but re-entered the U.S. illegally and established a new network out of Paterson, authorities said.

Under the plea agreement approved by Superior Court Judge Greta Gooden Brown in Paterson, he will be sentenced to 15 years in state prison — six before he is eligible for parole. She set a Feb. 7.

State, local and federal authorities took down the network during “Operation Dismayed” in November 2012, seizing three kilos of bulk heroin, another kilo of heroin packaged in thousands of glassine envelopes for individual sale and about $255,000 in cash.

The bulk heroin had a wholesale value of more than $300,000 but, if broken down, could have sold for more than $1 million on the street, state authorities said.

All 15 defendants were indicted in July on charges stemming form the probe, which involved the NJ Division of Criminal Justice, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Division, assisted by New Jersey State Police and the DEA New Jersey Division.

Deputy Attorney General Annmarie Taggart, deputy chief of the state Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, took the guilty plea.

“Garcia and his associates were supplying multiple kilos of heroin per week to drug dealers in Paterson, which is where young addicts from the northern suburbs of New Jersey were coming to obtain heroin,” said Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

“By putting drug kingpins like Garcia behind bars for lengthy terms, we are striking at the source of the poison that is fueling addiction and causing an alarming increase in overdose deaths among the very young,” Hoffman said.

Garcia’s crew generally didn’t sell to street-level dealers but, rather, to larger-scale traffickers in three states and the District of Columbia, authorities said.

Investigators seized 1.5 kilos of heroin, along with packaging materials and equipment, from a heroin mill located on the first floor of 447 East 21st Street in Paterson.

They seized an additional 1.5 kilos of heroin and $220,000 in cash from a second mill located on the first floor of 246 Maryland Avenue in Paterson.

Workers clad in aprons and surgical masks worked at these and other locations to cut, process and package heroin for the network. Cash totaling $35,000 was seized at other locations.

Wilfredo “Willie” Morel, 40, of Paterson — aka “Christino Morel” — worked with Garcia to obtain large quantities of heroin, the July indictment says, adding that Morel “exercised independent leadership control over certain members of the ring.”

Morel and nine other defendants also face first-degree drug charges.

Among those charged are two men identified as customers of Garcia’s who distributed heroin in the Pittsburgh, Pa., area. They were arrested on Oct. 11, 2012 after Garcia dropped off a package of heroin at a stash house in Paterson that one of the men delivered to two associates in a city parking lot.

Investigators subsequently stopped the van in which the associates were traveling on Route 80 and seized 425 “bricks” of heroin. Another 65 bricks were seized at a Paterson residence, authorities said.

The lead detective for the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice was Detective Travis Johnson. He was joined by other members of the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, under the supervision of Lt. Christopher Donohue, Sgt. Ho Chul Shin, Deputy Attorney General Taggart and the bureau chief, Deputy Attorney General Lauren Scarpa-Yfantis.

The Passaic County Sheriff’s Office’s end of the probe was handled by its Narcotics Enforcement Bureau, with assistance from other member of the department.

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