Authorities dismantled a Washington Heights-based drug ring that funneled illicit profits back to the Dominican Republic, according to the 140-count, 59-page indictment unsealed Wednesday.
The cocaine ring was allegedly run by a husband-wife duo from their Wadsworth Avenue apartment, just blocks from the George Washington Bridge. The couple, Robert Garcia and Adalgisa Hernandez, would allegedly stash cocaine in the kitchen using a hidden trap door, according to court records.
They received at least 100 calls for the powder each day. The orders ranged from as little as one gram to 150 grams, court records said.
Prosecutors charged the couple, and six other people, with a slew of offenses, including criminal possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy charges, according to court records. A ninth person was also arrested on drug-related charges, said the state’s attorney general’s office.
Prosecutors said the ring had a large customer base in Wappingers Falls, about two hours north of New York City in Dutchess County, where a well-connected member of the community helped direct sales. The drugs were resold at several locations, including from a deli.
On March 29, one of the men charged in the indictment allegedly tried to board a flight to the Dominican Republic with $10,000 of Garcia and Hernandez’s alleged drug money, court records show.
The investigation, nicknamed “Operation Snowfall,” was organized by the attorney general’s organized crime task force, the state police and Homeland Security Investigations.
