New York - Bronx Drug ring with valet parking busted

New York - Investigators have busted up a massive Bronx drug operation that was selling several pounds of coke and heroin a day out of a large housing complex they’d commandeered — drawing so much traffic they even had valet parking, authorities announced today.

The multi-agency bust, which resulted in 15 arrests and the seizure of 14 pounds of cocaine and heroin, $175,000 in cash and two illegal handguns, is the first under the newly created drug kingpin statute which leaves the ring’s alleged leader, Jose "Culebra" Delorbe, facing a possible life sentence.

Like a scene straight out of the 1991 classic hip-hop film "New Jack City," Delorbe and his crew slowly took over 11 apartments inside 1571 Undercliff Ave. in Morris Heights and allegedly turned them into the stash-house and marketplace of their multi-state drug wholesaling operation, authorities said.

"He ran the building as his own personal fiefdom. They had the run of the building," said Bridget Brennan, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for New York City.

Procuring narcotics from Columbia and the Dominican Republic, investigators said Delorbe was selling around two pounds of heroin and two pounds of cocaine every single day out the building, investigators said.

Delorbe, 39, was arrested early this morning at a Washington Heights nightclub. Hours later officers from the NYPD, the New York State Police and the Drug Enforcement Agency stormed the 120 apartment building and arrested 14 others, including Delorbe’s girlfriend, Erifer Gonzalez, 24, his manager, Luis "Zeta" Ulerio, 36, and the building’s super, Jose Jimenez, 54. Others were arrested in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

Inside the apartments they found 13 pounds of cocaine, a pound of heroin, the cash and guns stashed inside secret compartments hidden inside the furniture. Some of the drugs were found tucked inside a shipment of fresh plantains, authorities said.

Investigators had begun building their case last October, just as the stricter drug kingpin law had been put into place, securing numerous wiretaps to help bring the gang down.

Through the surveillance, investigators discovered that the gang was allegedly running a widespread wholesaling operation, dealing large quantities of drugs to other drug dealers from as far away as North Carolina. they had so many dealers coming to visit, that they set up a valet parking operation outside the building, Brennan said.

"The valet parking is something I think you would only see in New York City. It just shows how smart he was in running his day-to-day operation," she said.

Brennan said the gang was so brazen in the way they operated that even after a November shootout with thieves trying to break into one of the drug-filled apartments drew a large police response, they continued on with sales.

They also stationed numerous lookouts around the building with walkie-talkies to communicate the movements of police.

NY Post