DA: 31 People Charged In One Of Nassau County's Largest Drug Busts
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Nearly three dozen people have been arrested in a major drug bust on Long Island.
Thirty-one people are charged with selling heroin and cocaine in Nassau and Suffolk counties, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said this is one of the largest drug busts in the county's history.
As TV 10/55's Long Island Bureau Chief Richard Rose reported, the FBI's gang task force was also involved in the year long investigation.
Just after dawn, officers along with FBI agents began raiding the homes of 31 alleged dealers.
Prosecutors alleged that the drug ring sold heroin and cocaine on Long Island and throughout the state.
Officers seized a kilo of cocaine, hundreds of grams of heroin, and several assault weapons that dealers allegedly carried in hidden compartments inside of their vehicles.
"What we have are several independent drug operations that have one common thread. Their main supplier is David Ramis," Singas said.
Singas alleged that the kingpin, Ramis of Uniondale, supplied drugs to more than 50 other dealers with sales of $2-million to $3-million in just the last four months.
"They are all profiteers and sit atop their own narcotics pyramid with their own geographic areas," Singas said.
Nearly a dozen agencies joined the investigation which began last year when one of the defendents cars was pulled over after an officer smelled marijuana. The FBI soon koined the investigation as part of is mandate to crack down on the heroin-opioid epidemic.
"Heroin in particular destroys lives and devastates families. It takes control of people and they can't stop," Special Agent In Charge, Michael Harpster said.
Some of the accused sold out of their homes in Uniondale and Hempstead with their children inside, police said. Two people arrested were from upstate New York, and at least one man sold the heroin that caused five people to overdose.
Five of the defendants are being charged as major traffickers. If convicted, they face up to 15-years in prison.
The defendants were to be arraigned Thursday.
Heroin overdoses have surged across Long Island in recent months.
More: Generation 'H': 1010 WINS Investigates The Heroin Epidemic
From 2009 to 2013, there were 337 people who died in Suffolk County from heroin-related overdoses, surpassing totals in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and all other counties in New York State.
Meanwhile, all proceeds from a concert scheduled for later this month will be dedicated to fight Long Island's heroin epidemic. The Billy Joel tribute band Big Shot will be headlining Suffolk County's first-ever Crime Stoppers benefit on July 28 at The Emporium in Patchogue.
