AMERICA’S WIRETAPE INVESTIGATION:
NIGERIA’S Most Notorious Drug Supplier in New York, EDWARD AIGBOJIE, 31 Others Busted in Sting Operation…ICE, NYPD found them culpable for Narcotics & Gambling
…Sells Narcotic to Undercover police officers on Poker House at 446 Avenue and 536 East 5th Street in the East Village
* Police recovered a handgun, a shotgun, an air rifle, a kilogram of suspected cocaine (over two pounds), quantities of heroin, several pounds of marijuana and approximately 2,000 pills of suspected Xanax
* Recovered during court authorized searches: $125,000 cash, multiple money counters, gambling records, thousands of poker chips and two vehicles
*Investigation uncovered a large-scale cocaine and heroin distribution network
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF
After several years of living in crime world, Aigbojie was apprehended with 31 other gang members who were outsmarted by their own game through painstaking undercover action and intelligence reports carried out by trained officers of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York, working jointly with The New York City Police Department (NYPD).
In a press statement issued on the website of ICE, it reads that thirty-two individuals were arrested recently on narcotics and gambling charges following an investigation by ICE, HSI in New York, working jointly with NYPD. The investigation, being prosecuted out of New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office, uncovered a large-scale alleged cocaine and heroin distribution network centered in the East Village and a related gambling operation located in a busy commercial district near West 11th Street and Avenue of the Americas in the West Village.
32 individuals were arrested in New York City, Massachusetts, Georgia and Florida. An indictment filed by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor (SNP) for the City of New York follows a long-term wiretap investigation by HSI and NYPD’s Narcotics Borough Manhattan South, Gang Squad Manhattan South and Vice Squad.
Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill said, “The illegal behavior outlined in today’s indictment will never be tolerated in New York City by the NYPD or any of our law enforcement partners. I commend the attorneys and the investigators at the Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor and Homeland Security Investigations, along with our Narcotics, Gang and Vice detectives, for demonstrating time and again that we are patient, and that our collaborative forces have a long reach. We will continue to be relentless in our mission to dismantle these types of illicit operations and bring the criminals who run them to justice.”
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said, “The disparate criminal schemes orchestrated by this sophisticated and treacherous organization shared a single motivation: greed. Both the gambling operation and the narcotics enterprise charged in the indictment unsealed today preyed on vulnerabilities. While it may be tempting to discount these schemes as victimless crimes, we have learned that drug addiction often leads to overdose and gambling debt to suicide.”
The investigation began with cocaine and heroin trafficking and ultimately led police to a sophisticated illegal gambling operation that catered to a clientele of New York City professionals. The indictment identifies David Diaz as the head of both the narcotics distribution network and the gambling operation, which included the Poker House located at 446 Avenue of the Americas and an online gambling business. DIAZ allegedly ran these interconnected narcotics and gambling operations with assistance from two top associates. Defendant Benjamin Guerrero, maintained an alleged drug stash apartment in a residence occupied by family members at 536 East 5th Street in the East Village and oversaw the packaging and sales of narcotics. Guerrero also served as a “pit boss” for the West Village Poker House. Defendant Geeta Singh, aka “Mira,” served as a manager and promoter for the gambling operation.
Also NYPD officers and HSI agents conducted court authorized searches in 19 locations, including the alleged drug stash location at 536 East 5th Street and the Poker House at 446 Avenue of the Americas. Police recovered a handgun, a shotgun, an air rifle, a kilogram of suspected cocaine (over two pounds), quantities of heroin, several pounds of marijuana and approximately 2,000 pills of suspected Xanax. Approximately $125,000 cash, multiple money counters, gambling records, thousands of poker chips and two vehicles were also seized during court authorized searches.
Narcotics Operation:
At the outset of the investigation in November of 2017, defendants Anthony Delea and Lewis Castro, both alleged members of the Diaz narcotics operation, made multiple narcotics sales to an undercover NYPD officer. On more than one occasion, members of an NYPD surveillance team observed Delea and Castro exit 446 Avenue of the Americas in possession of narcotics prior to making a sale to an undercover. Only later did narcotics investigators learn the address housed a gambling operation.
A clear picture of two interrelated narcotics and gambling schemes emerged once the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the NYPD initiated a four-month wiretap investigation with assistance from HSI New York and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The wiretap investigation initially focused on Castro and expanded to include Guerrero, Diaz and alleged narcotics suppliers Dante Rodriguez, Moliek Hudson and Edward Aigbojie.
As detailed in the indictment, a total of nine defendants are charged with engaging in 25 narcotics sales with undercover officers and additional sales to other individuals. Defendants used coded language to discuss narcotics transactions by phone. While several undercover sales took place in the vicinity of the West Village Poker House, the majority occurred in the vicinity of 536 East 5th Street drug stash apartment and elsewhere in the East Village. Defendant Luis Chevres, aka “Presulo,” allegedly sold narcotics to an undercover officer on multiple occasions at a barbershop located at 2nd Avenue and Houston Street. Several of the larger drug sales involved undercover officers purchasing nearly $5,000 in cocaine and heroin at a time. In all, the defendants sold approximately $50,000 in narcotics to undercover officers.
Diaz and Guerrero allegedly received drug deliveries Rodriguez, who resides in Yonkers, N.Y., Hudson, who is based Deltona, Fla., and Aigbojie, who resides in Brooklyn. AIGBOJIE allegedly served as a middleman for Hudson and was also an avid gambler at the Poker House.
Gambling Operation:
While the narcotics-related investigation was underway, an NYPD undercover officer with the VICE Squad successfully penetrated the West Village gambling house and participated in poker games with the regular clientele. As a result of the combined efforts of the undercover operation and the wiretap investigation, police were able to identify the hierarchy and methods of the gambling operation.
As charged in the indictment, Diaz allegedly oversaw the entirety of the gambling operation, while Guerrero serving as “pit boss” on multiple nights per week. Guerrero’s brother, defendant Alberto Guerrero allegedly held accounts associated with the Poker House in his name and received income from the gambling operation. Alberto Guerrero, who resides in Amherst, Mass., and Diaz are charged with money laundering in the second degree.
The Poker House operated from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. and consisted of two floors that accommodated approximately 30 players at a time. Players at lower stakes tables on the first floor were required to purchase a minimum of $200 in chips, while higher stakes players upstairs were required to purchase $500 in chips. Each game lasted two hours, enabling tens of thousands of dollars to change hands in a single night. Players who left before the two hours were up forfeited their chips. Proceeds of the illegal gambling operation were used to fund further narcotics trafficking.
The entrée for Poker House clients was through defendant Geeta Singh, aka “Mira,” who managed and promoted the gambling operation remotely from her residence in Atlanta, Ga. and oversaw a related online poker business. Among the methods Singh allegedly used to draw high stakes clientele were event listings through the online service Meetup. Clientele for the poker games were thoroughly vetted and were required to show a text message from Singh in order to gain entrance to the Poker House.
Indicted Defendants in Custody Charges
David Diaz
New York, NY
05/14/1966 Conspiracy 2nd – 1 ct
Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 1st – 1 ct
CPCS 1st – 2 cts
CSCS 2nd – 1 ct
CSCS 3rd – 8 cts
CPCS 3rd – 3 cts
Promoting Gambling 1st – 3 cts
Money Laundering 2nd – 2 cts
Benjamin Guerrero
Brooklyn, NY
09/05/1979 Conspiracy 2nd – 1 ct
Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 1st – 1 ct
CPCS 1st – 2 cts
CSCS 2nd – 1 ct
CSCS 3rd – 5 cts
CPCS 3rd – 3 cts
Promoting Gambling 1st – 3 cts
Dante Rodriguez
Yonkers, NY
02/20/1975 Conspiracy 2nd – 1 c
Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct t
CSCS 1st – 3 cts
Moliek Hudson
Deltona, Fla.
12/14/1970 Conspiracy 2nd – 1 ct
Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 1st – 2 cts
CPCS 1st – 1 ct
Edward Aigbojie
Brooklyn, NY
05/09/1971 Conspiracy 2nd – 1 ct
Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 1st – 2 cts
CPCS 1st – 1 ct
Jose Aviles
New York, NY
11/1/1962 CSCS 1st – 1 ct
CSCS 2nd – 1 ct
Lewis Castro
New York, NY
11/18/1968
Conspiracy 2nd – 1 ct
Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 1st – 3 cts
CSCS 2nd – 9 cts
CSCS 3rd – 18 cts
Criminal Sale of Marijuana 4th – 3 cts
Promoting Gambling 1st – 2 cts
Kin Tung Wong aka “Mark Wong” aka “Mongo”
Brooklyn, NY
05/26/1981 Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CPCS 3rd – 2 cts
CPCS 3rd – 2 cts
Promoting Gambling 1st – 1 ct
Anthony Delea
Brooklyn, NY
04/15/1984 Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 3rd – 4 cts
Criminal Sale of Marijuana 4th – 3 cts
Promoting Gambling 1st – 6 cts
Luis Chevres aka “Presulo”
Bronx, NY
02/07/1970 Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 1st – 1 ct
CSCS 2nd – 1 ct
CSCS 3rd – 2 cts
Roque Maldonado
New York, NY
12/08/1976 Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
Rafael Lugo
Bronx, NY
07/13/1973 Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CPCS 3rd – 1 ct
Promoting Gambling 1st – 3 cts
Leonardo Lugo
New York, NY
10/04/1977 Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CSCS 3rd – 1 ct
Damien Berkowicz
New York, NY
12/04/1977 Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct
CPCS 3rd – 1 ct
Geeta Singh aka “Mira”
Atlanta, GA
01/12/1975 Promoting Gambling 1st – 6 cts
Alberto Guerrero
Amherst, MA
02/06/1981 Money Laundering 2nd – 2 cts
David Vasquez aka “Skaletto”
New York, NY
07/10/1985
Promoting Gambling 1st – 1 ct
Haroon Saeed
Brooklyn, NY
06/19/1980
Promoting Gambling 1st – 1 ct
The charges and allegations are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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