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National Drug Intelligence Center |
Illicit drug production in the HIDTA region largely consists of crack conversion, heroin milling, and cannabis cultivation. Crack cocaine conversion and heroin milling take place primarily in urban parts of the region, typically near distribution areas. Indoor cannabis cultivation generally takes place in apartments and private residences; outdoor cannabis grow sites are not common in the NY/NJ HIDTA region. Limited amounts of methamphetamine are produced in the region, usually in rural areas.
Powder cocaine is often converted to crack near distribution areas in which the drug will be sold. African American, Dominican, and Jamaican distributors in New York City generally convert small batches of the drug for local retail distribution. However, according to law enforcement officials in Upstate New York, approximately half of the crack cocaine sold there is transported to the area from New York City.
Heroin is often milled in the New York City metropolitan area. Heroin mills are typically located in residential areas of the Bronx, Harlem, and Westchester County. Heroin mills are a potential vulnerability for trafficking organizations because personnel with knowledge of trafficking operations are often at these sites, along with substantive evidence (ledgers, phone records, etc.) and substantial quantities of heroin. For instance, in June 2008, law enforcement officers served a search warrant on a Bronx apartment used to store, mill, and package heroin. During the execution of the warrant, 12 members of a heroin distribution organization were present and arrested on narcotics trafficking charges. One individual died and two others were injured when they tried to evade law enforcement by jumping from the balcony of the ninth floor apartment. Law enforcement officers seized several kilograms of heroin and paraphernalia used to cut and package the heroin, including digital scales, strainers, grinders, and glassine envelopes.
Some distributors in the region stamp heroin bags with a unique identifier to advertise their product and establish brand loyalty. In August 2008, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents and New Jersey state and local police arrested an Irvington, New Jersey, man on charges of misuse of official government insignia and possession of nearly 1 kilogram of heroin; the packaged heroin had been stamped with the DEA emblem.
Indoor cannabis cultivation is increasing in the HIDTA region. Marijuana trafficking groups typically purchase residences throughout the area to use in hydroponic grow operations. They often gut the houses so that all available space can be used for cannabis cultivation. Grow site operators also generally bypass utility meters to avoid detection through high utility usage. According to law enforcement officials, low-level members of IOC families produce hydroponic marijuana on Long Island and in Howard Beach in southwestern Queens. They are attracted to marijuana production because of the drug's large profit margin.
Methamphetamine production is very limited in the NY/NJ HIDTA region. The metropolitan nature of the New York City area makes the concealment of laboratories there difficult. According to National Seizure System data, 14 methamphetamine laboratories were seized in NY/NJ HIDTA counties in 2006, and only 1 laboratory was seized in 2007. No methamphetamine laboratories were seized in the HIDTA counties in 2008. Most of the methamphetamine available in the region is produced by Mexican DTOs in superlabs8 in Mexico or on the West Coast. These DTOs often obtain ton quantities of precursor chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine, from international sources. For instance, in August 2008, law enforcement officials in Newark, New Jersey, seized over 2,000 pounds of pseudoephedrine from a shipping container at the Port of Newark. The chemicals were shipped by a company in India and destined for Mexico.
Traffickers transport illicit drugs into, throughout, and from the NY/NJ HIDTA region using various modes of transportation. Traffickers primarily transport illicit drugs along the six major interstate highways9 and 10 secondary interstates10 that service the region (see Figure 2). Some drug traffickers use indirect routes, such as state routes and back roads, to transport drugs to and through the HIDTA region, largely in an attempt to avoid law enforcement apprehension. Interstate 95, a key overland route along the East Coast, connects the NY/NJ HIDTA region to areas in which over a quarter of the U.S. population resides. Additionally, 10 major airports and 10 major seaports are located along the East Coast and are easily accessible from I-95. Three international airports--JFK, Newark Liberty, and LaGuardia--are extensively used by traffickers to smuggle illicit drugs, particularly SA heroin, into the region. One airline recently added a daily nonstop flight between Lagos, Nigeria, and JFK International Airport, creating a possible avenue for traffickers to smuggle heroin directly from Nigeria to the New York area. Traffickers also use the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and Albany International Airport to transport drugs into Upstate New York drug markets. The Port of New York/New Jersey is the largest container port complex on the East Coast. In 200711 the port handled more than $166 billion worth of international cargo--more than ever before--from over 150 countries. Law enforcement reporting reveals that traffickers periodically smuggle illicit drugs into the region by maritime conveyances destined for the port. Four major land ports of entry (POEs) are located on the U.S.-Canada border, each accessible through Erie County.12 Traffickers routinely take advantage of overland POEs to smuggle drugs into the region from Canada. Additionally, Amtrak passenger rail service, commuter rail services, the largest subway system in the world, and an extensive network of buses and taxis provide traffickers with numerous transportation options to and within the area. Recent law enforcement reporting indicates that traffickers are now transporting heroin from California to New York using trains and buses.
Figure 2. New York/New Jersey HIDTA Region Transportation Infrastructure
Colombian, Dominican, and Mexican DTOs are the primary transporters of illicit drugs in the region. Colombian, Dominican, and Mexican DTOs sometimes contract with each other to transport drugs overland from the Southwest Border; they also contract with Caribbean transportation groups to smuggle drugs on maritime conveyances from South America to Florida, then onward to the HIDTA region by private and commercial vehicles and commercial aircraft. Colombian and Dominican DTOs also transport drugs by using couriers on commercial aircraft flying directly to the region's major airports or secreting the drugs among containerized cargo shipped into the Port of New York/New Jersey. Mexican DTOs transport drugs primarily overland from the Southwest Border, or they obtain drug supplies from other Mexican DTOs based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Shipments of cocaine and heroin transported to the NY/NJ HIDTA region are either stored by traffickers in suburban residences outside New York City or are further transported to distributors in Upstate New York. Colombian and Dominican DTOs use drugs stored in stash locations outside New York City to supply the city's midlevel and retail-level dealers; they typically retrieve small amounts of drugs that they can distribute quickly, thereby minimizing the risk of having large quantities of drugs seized by law enforcement. Some New York City-based traffickers also supply drugs to distributors in upstate markets, delivering the drugs directly to regular customers in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse; however, couriers, usually female, and some upstate dealers travel to New York City to obtain drug supplies. Additionally, some upstate distributors bypass New York City suppliers entirely by arranging for the transportation of cocaine and heroin to their areas directly from Atlanta; Chicago, Illinois; and various cities in Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. Law enforcement reporting indicates that some cocaine traffickers in Rochester have developed such extensive drug markets that they are bypassing their usual sources of supply in New York City and dealing directly with Mexican traffickers in southwestern states.
Mexican DTOs are increasingly transporting multipound quantities of Mexican crystal methamphetamine to parts of the region, particularly New Jersey, using their established transportation networks. Most of the crystal methamphetamine available in the region is produced in laboratories in Mexico and is transshipped from locations in Southwest Border states, California and, increasingly, Atlanta. Mexican traffickers typically transport the drug overland in private and commercial vehicles that are often equipped with hidden compartments. In December 2008, law enforcement officers in New Jersey arrested one member of a Mexican DTO and seized 165 pounds of crystal methamphetamine. The methamphetamine was valued at approximately $11 million and constituted the largest seizure of the drug ever in the Northeast. The drugs were wrapped in black duct tape, packaged in plastic containers, and concealed by commingling the containers in a shipment of legitimate produce. Traffickers also use mail and package delivery services to transport methamphetamine to the region. Mexican DTOs frequently supply crystal methamphetamine to various criminal groups and gangs for retail-level distribution in the region.
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Colombian DTO Leader Faces Smuggling Charges In October 2008, Humbeiro Carvajal-Montoya, the leader of a Colombian heroin DTO, was extradited to the United States to face smuggling charges. Couriers for this DTO smuggled heroin into the United States concealed in layers of clothing, in the linings of suitcases and handbags, and beneath false bottoms of suitcases; the DTO also smuggled heroin in international cargo, often with the assistance of corrupt Colombian law enforcement officials and airport and airline personnel. Source: U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York. |
Canada-based DTOs, primarily Vietnamese, regularly transport substantial quantities of MDMA and high-potency hydroponic marijuana from Canada to northern New York. Canada-based traffickers, primarily Asian DTOs, smuggle marijuana by boat and private vehicle and MDMA by private vehicle from Canada through the St. Regis Mohawk (Akwesasne) Reservation. These DTOs hire residents of the reservation to transport the drugs to distributors in Upstate New York locations, mainly Albany and Syracuse. The upstate distributors then supply the drug to traffickers from New York City, predominantly Dominican distributors, for distribution there.
Some traffickers smuggle drugs to the NY/NJ HIDTA region through the Port of New York/New Jersey aboard maritime vessels. Dominican DTOs smuggle cocaine from South America and the Caribbean and Jamaican DTOs transport marijuana from Jamaica aboard marine conveyances. Additionally, Afghani and Pakistani DTOs smuggle limited quantities of SWA heroin into the NY/NJ HIDTA region in maritime cargo.
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Heroin Trafficking and Terrorism In September 2008, Bashir Noorzai, a former Mujahideen warlord and a strong supporter of the Taliban, was convicted in federal court in the Southern District of New York for conspiring to import and distribute heroin in the United States. Noorzai owned opium fields in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and laboratories in Afghanistan's border regions where the opium was processed into heroin, some of which was eventually smuggled into the United States. Noorzai provided the Taliban with weapons, vehicles, and a portion of the illicit proceeds from his heroin trade in exchange for permission to continue his drug trafficking activities with impunity. Prior to his arrest, Noorzai had been designated to the Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) list.* Source: Drug Enforcement Administration. |
Traffickers also use package delivery services and the U.S. mail to ship illicit drugs into the region. Cocaine is occasionally shipped by traffickers to the NY/NJ HIDTA region in 1- to 5-kilogram quantities from Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic. For instance, in September 2008, nine individuals from the Bronx and Manhattan were arrested in connection with a drug smuggling and money laundering organization that had concealed kilogram quantities of cocaine in boxes of children's toys and puzzles that were shipped from Puerto Rico to New York City using package delivery services. Mexican traffickers also use package delivery services to ship methamphetamine to New York, typically from California and Arizona. Some traffickers prefer to use package delivery services because the shipments can be monitored on the Internet--if a shipment is delayed, the traffickers often abandon it or refuse delivery, fearing law enforcement detection and intervention.
8.
Superlabs are laboratories in which 10 or more pounds of methamphetamine can be
produced in a single cycle.
9.
Interstates 78, 80, 81, 87, 90, and 95.
10.
Interstates 190, 278, 280, 287, 295, 390, 495, 684, 878, and 895.
11.
The latest year for which such data are available.
12.
These ports of entry (POEs) are the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge and the Peace Bridge
(private vehicles and commercial truck traffic), the Whirlpool Bridge, and the Rainbow
Bridge (private vehicles only).
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