NYPD CRUSHES S.I. DRUG GANG
14 nabbed in heroin ring tied to 8 fatal ODs
A Staten Island scourge first busted as a drug-dealing teen was arrested with 13 coconspirators for flooding the entire borough with a potentially lethal strain of heroin, authorities said Thursday.
Drug kingpin Damien Rice, known on the streets as “Drama,” was charged with heading one borough heroin ring while providing drugs to three others after a sweeping 19-month probe of the island's drug business, officials said.
Twenty-one customers overdosed on his heroin laced with fentanyl or oxycodone, with eight users killed by the potent mix, officials said.
“I cannot overstate enough the significance that taking down a kingpin like Damien Rice will have on the drug trade on Staten Island,” said borough District Attorney Michael McMahon.
“Mr. Rice was one of the biggest dealers known to Staten Island, peddling his poison in our communities and wreaking havoc on our borough for decades.”
The city's smallest borough has endured a disproportionate number of opioid fatalities during the national epidemic in recent years. The overdosed users of Rice's product were as young as 25 and as old as 64, officials said.
“Dismantling drug-trafficking rings like these is just one way the NYPD and our law enforcement partners work together to reduce the scourge of illegal narcotics and overdose deaths in our city,” said NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill.
“The people we serve…deserve nothing less than to be safe from drug dealing and the violence so often associated with such criminal activity.”
Cops recovered more than 500 grams of heroin, more than 300 grams of cocaine and more than $190,000 during the investigation. Officials charged that Rice, in addition to his heroin dealings, provided cocaine to a fourth drug dealer.
“This takedown drives a stake into the heart of some of the most monstrous pushers in our borough,” said McMahon. “(Rice's) arrest should send a shiver down the spine of anyone thinking about selling drugs on Staten Island.”
Rice, 46, was a member of the Bloods street gang when he was first arrested while still a teen and jailed in 1990 for attempted sale of a controlled substance.
His illicit career took off from there, with seven ensuing arrests. This time, Rice was charged with operating as a major drug trafficker for running the 24-hour borough-wide heroin ring that delivered packages by cars to customer across Staten Island.
He was arrested three months ago after cops found a large amount of cocaine and $5,000 cash inside his car, and remains incarcerated. Rice entered a plea of not guilty at his Wednesday arraignment.
When officers moved to arrest suspect Quaran Neischer, 32, he jumped out a window while tossing a bag of fentanyl-laced heroin at the pursuing cops — with the bag bursting as the white powder flew into their faces. McMahon noted that contact between the deadly mix of potent drugs and an officer's skin is enough to cause an overdose.
Co-defendant Robert (Truck) Daniels, identified as a runner in Rice's crew, is a member of the Staten Islandbased rap group Ruthless Bastards, a source told the Daily News. Daniels, 45, appears in a video “No Justice” about the 2014 death of Staten Islander Eric Garner in a police chokehold.
The arrests were the result of three intertwining law enforcement probes of Rice, whose rap sheet includes three more drug-related state prison sentences in 1995, 2005 and 2012. He was most recently sentenced to four years behind bars in November 2012, and finished his post-release supervision on Sept. 26 — the month after his latest arrest, public records show.
"Especially significant is the indictment of defendant Damien Rice, who for decades worked with impunity to fuel the island's drug trade along with his associates,” said McMahon. “Despite serving multiple prison sentences for peddling drugs, once released he only expanded his criminal actions to encompass our entire borough.”
All the defendants were arrested and arraigned in Staten Island Supreme Court, save for one busted in Pennsylvania and still awaiting arraignment, officials said.
“Our communities will no longer stand for having this poison sold in our neighborhoods and the accompanying violence,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol Kenneth Corey.