Two major drug trafficking rings have been shut down in Western, New York.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Superintendent of the State Police say the network funneled heroin and cocaine into Rochester, Buffalo and neighboring communities.
Thirty-two people are being charged with a variety of felonies as part of a 13-month multi-agency investigation called "Operation Crazy Train." Twenty of those arrests are suspects from Rochester.
"We have seized about a million dollars’ worth of heroin, several thousand dollars’ worth of cocaine, tens of thousands dollars in cash and firearms," Schneiderman says. "The drugs you see here have taken a deadly toll on our communities."
"A Reggie Miller", which is a request to buy 31 grams of cocaine by referring to the former NBA player's jersey number."
The Attorney General says distributors used a set of code words for drug dealing. One defendant was recorded asking another defendant to give him "a Reggie Miller", which is a request to buy 31 grams of cocaine by referring to the former NBA player's jersey number. Or, "I want 8 yards of fabric and make sure that the fabric is not cut."
Authorities say Nelson Marcial of Rochester was the main distribution guy here.
"These suspects are not low-hanging fruit,” says Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico says. “They are major players in the drug trade. They were living among us appearing to be typical middle class families on the outside while secretly leading large drug trafficking organizations that span from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic through New York City, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts to right here to our state and right here in the city of Rochester."
D’Amico says the take down was a combined effort of federal, state and local law enforcement working together that made the arrests possible.
The Medical Examiner’s Office reported that 65 people in this area overdosed on heroin, last year, Schneiderman says. That’s compared with 11 lives the drug claimed in 2011.