Officials: Heroin ring sold millions in drugs

A ring described as one of Long Island's major suppliers of heroin, selling 15,000 bags a week, has been dismantled, Suffolk officials announced Tuesday.

Twenty-three people, including a Bethpage man accused of being a supplier, 15 Suffolk residents who mainly were low-level dealers and a Bronx man charged in a separate murder case, were arrested after a 16-month investigation, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Coupled with at least six other major busts since 2008, Spota said, these latest arrests are making "significant inroads into heroin trafficking in Suffolk County."

Beth Creighton, the assistant district attorney handling the case, said, "We've taken down one of the largest suppliers." Since the arrests started, Creighton said, the street cost of heroin has risen from $100 for 10 bags to a range of $120 to $150 for 10 bags.

The breaking-up of the ring, Spota said, was "one of the largest heroin busts" in county history.

The ring sold about 15,000 bags of heroin on Suffolk streets each week, adding up to about 1 million bags - worth between $10 million and $11 million - during the 16-month investigation, Creighton said.

In August 2009, authorities seized 17 pounds of uncut, nearly pure heroin that had a street value ranging from $8 million to $10 million.

Creighton said this ring had been operating since 2006. In the raids, authorities seized 5,000 bags of heroin labeled with such names as "Sweet Death," "Starbucks" and "Kneebender."

Tuesday's announcement comes as Long Island struggles to cope with a heroin epidemic that has killed hundreds and led thousands, especially teenagers, to seek treatment for addiction.

"Heroin continues to eat away at the fabric of our communities, stealing the futures of our young people, and destroying families as well," Spota said.

The arrests of this ring's members began at the end of November, with another round in the second week of December and more Monday night, prosecutors said.

The leader of the ring, said Spota, was Frank Conte of the Bronx, who is scheduled to go on trial next month in the killing of a Bronx bartender.

As ringleader, Spota said, Conte sold heroin to Carlos Melendez of the Bronx and Joel Guzman of Queens. They would package the drug in a Queens "stash house" and sell it to Long Island supplier Ricardo Rifino Jr., 29, of Bethpage, formerly of Sayville, Spota said. Rifino then distributed the drugs through a staff of dealers who would sell it on the street.

Melendez is being held on $1-million bail and Guzman is held without bail. Conte is being held on $3-million bail. Melendez, Guzman and Rifino face various drug charges and also are charged under the new state Major Drug Trafficker law, which carries a possible 25-years-to-life sentence.

The 19 lower-level dealers were charged with second-degree conspiracy. All those arrested pleaded not guilty.

Conte's attorney, James Kousouros of Manhattan, said his client "denies any narcotics trafficking in Suffolk County and it has become an unfortunate distraction to his upcoming Bronx trial."

Guzman's attorney, Barry Zone of Manhattan, said his client was "overcharged" and maintains his client's innocence, saying that if the charges took place in federal court, they would have been less severe.

One Long Island drug treatment counselor applauded the arrests.

"Reducing the supply of heroin and other drugs is a critical part of the equation, but we need to keep enhancing our efforts to reduce the demand," said Jeffrey Reynolds, executive director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

With Sophia Chang

and Zachary R. Dowdy