Jose Garcia, the Rye resident charged in March with running a New York City-based fentanyl and heroin trafficking ring, is now facing new charges that he operated as a major trafficker — the most serious drug charge under state law.
Garcia, 51, pleaded not guilty to all charges following his indictment in Manhattan Supreme Court on April 29 and currently is being held on Rikers Island. He could face up to a life sentence, with a minimum sentence of 15 years, according Kati Cornell, the New York City special narcotics prosecutor’s director of public information.
Garcia will now face a slew of additional charges, including: one count of first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, one count or criminal sale of a controlled substance, one count of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, and two counts of second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia.
When the Rye resident was arrested, he was initially charged only with one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree, according to Cornell.
But during his March 21 arraignment, prosecutors had warned that they were planning to tack on additional hefty charges. His next court date is Sept. 16.
The NYPD and Westchester County police arrested Garcia at his Central Avenue apartment during the early morning hours of March 19 for his alleged role in a network of three interconnected drug rings. The groups, authorities said, distributed “prolific” amounts of crack cocaine and mixtures of fentanyl, heroin and xylazine — an illicit drug known as “tranc” — in the Marcus Garvey Village apartments, a low-income housing complex in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn and other places.
The drugs were linked to at least four overdose deaths, according to prosecutors.
His arrest was the conclusion of a year-long investigation by the NYPD, Westchester police, and the New York City special narcotics prosecutor’s office that led to 23 arrests.
Garcia was the director of a large-scale drug trafficking organization for around a year and the sales from the ring totaled about $75,000, prosecutors alleged at his indictment. Police found approximately $50,000 in cash from drug sales and $300,000 in jewelry at Garcia’s unit in the Rye Park Apartments complex during the early morning raid.
Garcia, who was the alleged ringleader, used the Bronx home of a suspected associate, Angel Martinez, as a drug stash house and “primary location” for the operation where he received multiple kilos of narcotics for distribution each week, authorities said.
He would then transfer the mixture to Pedro Linares, another suspect in the ring, for sales distribution, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Roshawn Lucky, of Brooklyn, led the Marcus Garvey Village organization and oversaw a narcotics network that saturated the Brooklyn housing complex with drugs. Garcia supplied fentanyl and heroin, while Bruce Gravenhise of Queens handled the cocaine distribution, prosecutors said.
All 23 suspects arrested were indicted on April 29.
