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Coram man among 24 charged in massive drug ring

BY LAURA RIVERA | laura.rivera@newsday.com

10:02 PM EDT, May 8, 2008

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A Long Island man is among 24 people who have been indicted on charges stemming from their alleged involvement in an elaborate upstate narcotics ring.

While executing a search warrant last March, Suffolk and state police also seized more than $160,000 in heroin and cocaine, guns, cars and cash, some of it from the Coram home of Maximo Doe, 29, who was named in the indictment as the drug supplier for dealers in the Schenectady region.

Police found 100 bags of heroin, several ounces of cocaine, and drug paraphernalia at 35 Felway Drive, a spokesman for state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.

Twenty-one Schenectady residents have been arrested in connection with the ring, according to the state attorney general's office. Doe, who is not in custody, has a pending statewide arrest warrant, the spokesman said. A second warrant is outstanding against Doe for a parole violation on a prior drug conviction, according to records.

A traffic stop outside Schenectady led to a 13-month investigation, when federal, state and local law enforcement uncovered what officials called "a highly organized" ring.

"Operating like a corporation, this organization peddled poison throughout the streets of our capital region," said John Gilbride, DEA special agent in charge, in a written statement.

The indictment charges that Kerry Kirkem, 40, of Schenectady, and Oscar Mora, 30, of nearby Waterford, headed the organization, overseeing so-called mules who drove the drugs from Long Island to Schenectady and dealers who sold drugs from at least five Schenectady apartments.

The drugs were also sold in five other upstate counties, the indictment alleges. The indictment was unsealed in Schenectady County Court on Wednesday.

Kirkem, Mora, Doe and Gary Cherny, 25, of Schenectady, have been charged with first-degree possession and sale of a controlled substance, which carries a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison. Others were charged with various levels of felonies related to narcotics.

Staff writer Bill Mason contributed to this story.

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