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3 S.I. Sanitation Workers Accused Of Dealing Drugs

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Three New York City Department of Sanitation workers have been accused of selling drugs, Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan announced Friday.

Prosecutors have charged 29-year-old Gino Colella with 20 counts of selling a controlled substance and 30-year-old Robert Miller with 5 counts of the same crime. Both men are from Staten Island and worked together at a Sanitation garage on Neptune Avenue on Coney Island.

Also charged were 33-year-old Bernard Basile, a Sanitation Department supervisor at the Jersey Street garage on Staten Island, and 31-year-old Margaret Purdee.  They allegedly supplied drugs to Miller on at least one occasion, authorities said.

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1010 WINS Reporter Juliet Papa gets the details on the operation.

At a press conference Friday afternoon, Donovan said Colella was disappearing from his Brooklyn post to sell drugs on Staten Island.

"He would leave whatever his assignment was for that day. He was doing this during a time of -- on occasion -- doing this at a time when he was supposed to be working in Brooklyn," Donovan told reporters including 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa.

The men allegedly sold oxycodone pills for $11 to $15 each. Donovan said the drugs sales were so lucrative that Miller and Basile turned down overtime.

"They were sold to individuals whether it be on street corners, in a car, inside of a location. There were various locations," Donovan said.

Miller and Colella were apprehended after an eight month undercover probe. The men face up to 9 years in prison is convicted.

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