Segundo Garcia, 38, of Prospect Park, aka “Moreno,” was sentenced to 15 years in state prison, including six years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Adam E. Jacobs in Passaic County. Garcia pleaded guilty on Dec. 3, 2013 to a charge of first-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Deputy Attorney General Annmarie Taggart, Deputy Chief of the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, prosecuted Garcia and handled the sentencing.

The charge was contained in a July 12, 2013 indictment stemming from “Operation Dismayed,” an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Division, conducted with assistance from the New Jersey State Police and the DEA New Jersey Division.

“Each dose of heroin can kill, and this ringleader put many thousands of doses on the street every week along the Northeast Corridor from Washington to New York,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “Garcia was supplying death and destruction in bulk, and the dealers he supplied in Paterson put poison in the veins of young addicts from all across the suburbs of northern New Jersey. He will spend a long time in prison, where he cannot sell his deadly product, and then he will be deported.”

“Law enforcement agencies at all levels recognize the urgency of our efforts to fight this deadly heroin epidemic, and by combining forces in this type of operation, we are striking the problem at its source,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “Arresting street-level dealers is important to disrupt open-air drug markets and suppress violence, but we also will continue to target the major distributors such as Garcia who supply most of the drugs sold in those markets.”

The network led by Garcia supplied multiple kilos of heroin per week to other suppliers and large-scale dealers in northern New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Garcia was one of 15 defendants charged in a July 12, 2013 state grand jury indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice. All 15 defendants were charged with first-degree racketeering and second-degree conspiracy to maintain heroin production facilities and distribute heroin. A majority of the defendants already have pleaded guilty and face state prison sentences.

During the takedown of the ring in November 2012, detectives searched 10 houses and one vehicle, seizing three kilos of bulk heroin, another kilo of heroin packaged in thousands of glassine envelopes for individual sale, and about $255,000 in cash. The bulk heroin had a “wholesale” value of over $300,000, and could have sold for $1 million or more once cut and packaged for sale on the street. The bulk heroin was seized from mills at 447 East 21st Street and 246 Maryland Avenue in Paterson, where, in the months prior to the takedown, workers clad in aprons and surgical masks cut, processed and packaged heroin for the network.

Garcia, a Dominican national, served more than five years in federal prison for drug dealing beginning in 2000. He was subsequently deported by federal immigration authorities, but re-entered the U.S. illegally and established his large-scale heroin distribution network in Paterson.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey charged Garcia in November 2013 with illegally reentering the United States after having been deported, a charge to which he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced on July 16, 2014, to 50 months in federal prison, which he will serve after his release following the state sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco J. Navarro represented the government in the prosecution.

The drug investigation was conducted for the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice by Detective Travis Johnson, who was the lead detective, and other members of the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Chief of Detectives Christopher Donohue, Sgt. Ho Chul Shin, Deputy Attorney General Taggart and Deputy Attorney General Lauren Scarpa Yfantis, who is Bureau Chief. The investigation was conducted for the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office by its Narcotics Enforcement Bureau, with assistance from other member of the Sheriff’s Office. The investigation was conducted for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration by DEA Group D-32 with assistance from members of DEA Division 30 and DEA Newark Division. The New Jersey State Police Intelligence Section provided valuable assistance in the investigation.

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