Queens street gang busted, weapons found in Bronx, police say

Two seemingly routine investigations — one for forgery of driver’s licenses and the other for fake Xanax pills — led to the breakup of a Queens street gang and the arrest of a Bronx man who police say had a cache of weapons in his home, officials said Thursday.

At a news conference at NYPD headquarters Thursday to announce the arrests, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said a probe dubbed “Gang Green,” a joint effort by cops, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Queens prosecutors, targeted the Trinitarios gang in the area of Jackson Heights, Queens.

Eleven reputed members of a local branch of the group, a violent street gang said by law enforcement officials to comprise people of Dominican descent, were arrested on a combination of drug conspiracy, weapons and other charges. Another four people who were associates of the gang were also arrested, police said.

Cops seized about a kilogram of cocaine in the gang case, as well as heroin laced with the highly toxic additive fentanyl, according to the NYPD. A few handguns and some ammunition, as well as eight cars and $80, 000 in cash, were also seized.

According to Angel Melendez, special agent in charge of investigations for Homeland Security Investigations, the gang probe was first triggered by an investigation into sellers of fake driver’s licenses and Social Security cards along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. But when it became known that the NYPD was looking at the same suspects, the agencies pooled their efforts in a 20-month investigation, officials said.

Though the Trinitarios gang may not display the brutal violence of MS-13 and the 18th Street gangs, it still nevertheless terrorizes Queens with shootings, police said.

In the Bronx case, cops raided the home of Richard Laugel, 38, and found a stockpile of firearms, including semi-automatic weapons and handguns, police said.

Federal Customs and Border Protection officials originally became interested in Laugel after a seizure in September 2017 of 49 fake Xanax pills at Kennedy Airport’s international mail facility. Over the next four months additional shipments, as well as a pill die press machine, were also seized, officials said. Cops said the pills originated in China.

It was not clear whether Laugel was charged in that investigation.

In an earlier, separate case, Laugel was charged in the Bronx with trying to use an explosive device to blow up the car of a rival drug dealer, police said. The chemical reaction did not lead to an explosion, police said.

That case is pending, police said.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.