11 men accused of operating drug packaging ring in the Bronx

THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) — Eleven men are accused of running a drug packaging ring in the Bronx after authorities seized 400,000 packages of fentanyl and heroin with an estimated street value of $4 million, officials said Monday.

The suspects were allegedly operating the drug ring out of an apartment at 1244 Grand Concourse for months before investigators raided the home last Wednesday, authorities said.

Aremedis Rivera, 41, Richard Manuel-Rivera, 28, John Luis-Reyes, 36, Oscar Taveras, 32, Miguel Delacruz, 29, Heirberto Rivera, 43, Ivan Carlos-Serrano, 23, Juan Rivera, 44, Juan Serrano, 26, Kelvin Ledesma, 26, Luis Ledesma, 38, were arrested and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally using drug paraphernalia, officials said.

Aremedis Rivera was allegedly seen leaving the second-floor apartment carrying two shopping bags filled with 100,000 glassine envelopes containing fentanyl and heroin in brick-shaped squares, prosecutors said.

Shortly after, members of the drug task force raided the apartment and found hundreds of thousands of glassines containing fentanyl in bags on the couch, on the living room floor, and two tables, authorities said. Thousands of empty glassine envelopes were also found in the oven.

The home was also allegedly filled with bags of cutting agents, coffee grinders containing a white powdery substance, multiple scales, and stamps used for branding, prosecutors said.

The suspects had a surveillance system set up to monitor the building from inside and fled the apartment when they saw the police raid about to happen, a federal law enforcement source told PIX11 News. All of the suspects were taken into custody at the scene.

Officers arrested Taveras, Rivera, and Delacruz on the roof. Carlos-Serrano, Serrano, Kelvin Ledesma, and Manuel-Rivera were apprehended after cops found them hiding under solar panels on the roof, officials said.

“Eleven members of a fentanyl/heroin trafficking ring were arrested as they fled the scene of a crime. They all ran from an active fentanyl mill filled with hundreds of thousands of deadly doses, but they couldn’t hide, not even under solar panels on the roof,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino said.