Two men have been indicted following a long-term investigation into a narcotics packaging site in Upper Manhattan, where local and federal law enforcement recovered thousands of glassine envelopes filled with fentanyl and other lethal drug mixtures, authorities announced Thursday.
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan announced that Narciso Negrum, 45, and Jose Castillo, 44, were arraigned in New York County Supreme Court on multiple charges, including first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
The charges stem from a Jan. 25 court-authorized search of an apartment at 4863 Broadway in Inwood, where officers seized more than 8,000 glassine envelopes containing fentanyl mixtures, over 1.5 pounds of powdered xylazine, and several bottles of veterinary-grade xylazine labeled “Rompun,” according to an indictment unsealed April 10.
Authorities also found three boxes of the overdose-reversal drug Narcan — one of them empty — along with branding stamps for the glassine envelopes bearing names such as “Toy Story” and “Mayo.”
Brennan said in a statement the presence of Narcan indicated the defendants were aware of the potentially fatal nature of the substances they were handling.
“The recovery of an empty box of Narcan in this fentanyl mill, located in a residential apartment, eliminates any question about the defendants’ knowledge of the life-threatening danger posed by the white powders they were mixing and packaging,” Brennan said.
The investigation was led by the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force Group T-12, a joint unit composed of agents and officers from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the NYPD and New York State Police, with support from the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch praised the collaboration behind the investigation, calling the seizure a decisive strike against those attempting to “flood New York City with deadly poison.”
According to prosecutors, members of NYDETF Group T-12 conducted physical and electronic surveillance at 4863 Broadway on Jan. 24 and allege Negrum left the apartment with a heavy bag, which was later transferred to a vehicle driven by 42-year-old Jose Lopez Paulino of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Police stopped the vehicle and allegedly discovered approximately one kilogram of powdered narcotics hidden in a trap compartment.
DEA lab analysis reportedly confirmed the brick contained a mix of cocaine, xylazine — a non-opioid veterinary sedative often called “tranq” — lidocaine, and BTMPS, a chemical used in plastics manufacturing.
Additional lab tests on substances seized from the apartment also allegedly revealed combinations of fentanyl, heroin, tramadol, and other drugs. Authorities said they additionally recovered all equipment necessary for processing and packaging the narcotics.
Negrum, 45, and Castillo, 44, were arrested on Jan. 24. The third individual, Lopez Paulino, was also arrested on separate charges in Manhattan Criminal Court.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino described the apartment as a “drug processing plant” and warned of the threat posed to public safety. “When dangerous drug traffickers turn an apartment into a drug processing plant, the results can have devastating consequences,” Tarentino said.
Castillo’s attorney, Patrick Bately, said he intends to “fight this case as hard as we can.”
“Every single person in this case has no criminal record, every single one of them was not arrested with any items on them. And there’s a belief that the warrants are not proper,” Bately told amNewYork.
