Gun-&-drug crew busted
Five charged in Bronx operation
Five men were charged with operating a gun and heroin ring in the Bronx after allegedly trafficking assault weapons, semiautomatic pistols, revolvers and hundreds of bullets, officials announced Thursday.
Brothers Luis and Michael Alsina, as well as Miguel Rodriguez, Josue Pagan-Adorno and Rafael Cruz were busted as part of “Operation Iron Empire” and charged with numerous crimes, including selling undercover officers 16 firearms, 11 high-capacity ammunition feeding devices and some 317 rounds of ammunition, the state attorney general’s office said.
The brothers also allegedly sold officers some $50,000 worth of heroin.
Officials said the five men repeatedly bragged that they could bring guns from Pennsylvania to New York while undercover officers were recording them.
“This investigation is actually still ongoing as we work to determine the true sources of these guns and seek to hold them accountable,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
The investigation began after an informant tipped off police, the attorney general said.
In July 2019, Luis Alsina and Pagan-Adorno were pulled over in New Jersey for a traffic infraction while they were transporting two assault weapons to the Bronx, James said. A drug-sniffing dog smelled marijuana emitting from the car.
“The police discovered the two assault weapons under the third row of seats in the vehicle,” James said. PaganAdorno, who was driving, was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon.
Michael Alsina, a 27-yearold Bronx resident, acted as a broker between firearms suppliers and undercover officers, selling them guns and ammunition 10 times between June 22 and Nov. 12 last year, according to the 107-count indictment.
His 30-year-old brother Luis provided guns and ammunition to him seven times and directly sold officers firearms on three other occasions between June and Dec. 27, 2019, the attorney general’s office said.
Cruz supplied Michael Alsina with two firearms, while Pagan-Adorno and Rodriguez transported them to the undercover cops, the indictment says.
The undercover cops paid an average of $1,000 per gun and most of the firearms sales occurred in and around the Bronx, officials said.
The five men were charged with criminal sale of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon, conspiracy and other crimes for allegedly participating in the illegal gun trafficking ring.
The Alsina brothers were also hit with multiple charges for allegedly selling undercover officers 250 grams of heroin on four occasions between Aug. 7 and Sept. 5, 2019, in Washington Heights.
Rodriguez and the Alsina brothers were all held without bail after they were arrested on Wednesday, while Cruz was not in custody as of Thursday afternoon. Pagan-Adorno, who lives in Pennsylvania, was freed by a New Jersey court following the July traffic stop, on the condition he wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, according to the New York attorney general’s office.
Attorneys for Michael Alsina and Rodriguez said they were just assigned the case and declined to comment. An attorney for Luis Alsina didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment, and information on lawyers for PaganAdorno and Cruz was not immediately available.