DA: 14 Arrested In Brooklyn-To-Suffolk County Heroin Ring

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- More than a dozen people have been arrested in connection with an alleged Brooklyn-to-Suffolk County heroin ring.

The ring was run by a Holstville couple -- 29-year-old Kelly Mullen and her 57-year-old husband Aaron Smith -- who allegedly got their heroin from a supplier in Brooklyn, identified as Miguel Vicente, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Vicente would prepare kilos of the drug for street sales and regularly overfill the bags to encourage repeat business and dealer loyalty, Spota said.

Local drug dealers would pick up the heroin from the Holtsville couple's home and then distribute it in various Suffolk County communities, Spota said.

"As many as five dealers a day came to this house, where five to ten children live at any given time, to pick up their heroin," Spota said. "When we arrived with a search warrant, there were bags of heroin scattered about, including heroin left next to the crib of Mullen and Smith's daughter."

A unique aspect of this case is that the suspected ringleaders are not believed to use heroin themselves, Spota said.

"Their addiction is to greed, a craving they satisfied by destroying the lives of other people," Spota said.

The ring flooded Suffolk County with approximately 360,000 bags of heroin with a street value of about $3.6 million, Spota said.

Mullen, Smith, Vicente and 11 others were arraigned on drug trafficking, conspiracy and other charges in a Riverhead court Wednesday.

The three main defendants face life in prison if convicted.

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