National Drug Intelligence Center   New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2009   April 2009   UNCLASSIFIED

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

• Cocaine availability in the NY/NJ HIDTA region fluctuated during the past 2 years. The region experienced a significant decline in cocaine availability during the first half of 2007 before returning to previous levels during the second half of 2007. Cocaine availability declined again in the first quarter of 2008 and remained lower through the end of 2008.
   
• Heroin availability and abuse are increasing in Upstate New York. Law enforcement officials in Albany, Erie, Monroe, and Onondaga Counties report that some cocaine distributors in their areas are now distributing heroin to new and existing heroin abusers.
   
• Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are increasingly transporting larger quantities of Mexican methamphetamine to parts of the region, particularly New Jersey, using their established transportation networks.

To Top     To Contents

HIDTA Overview

The NY/NJ HIDTA region encompasses 17 counties located throughout New York and northeastern New Jersey. The New York portion of the region consists of the five boroughs of New York City (Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island), the outer two counties of Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk), Westchester County (just north of New York City), and four counties in Upstate1 New York that were added to the HIDTA region in 2007 (Albany, Erie, Monroe, and Onondaga2). (See Appendix B for a discussion of these counties.) The New Jersey portion consists of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, and Union Counties. A further expansion of the NY/NJ HIDTA to include the northern border counties of Clinton, Franklin, Jefferson, and St. Lawrence is expected to be approved in 2009. These four counties are primarily rural and sparsely populated; they have numerous roads, trails, and waterways that are unattended, facilitating smugglers' efforts to transport illicit drugs across the U.S.-Canada border. Further, the St. Regis Mohawk (Akwesasne) Reservation, which is located in Franklin County and straddles the U.S.-Canada border, is a significant drug transportation corridor for MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy) and high-potency Canadian marijuana.

The NY/NJ HIDTA region is the most ethnically diverse urban area in the United States, a factor that enables many foreign-born criminals to easily assimilate within ethnic communities and mask their operations throughout the area.3 Individuals from over 100 countries reside in the New York metropolitan area; almost 2 million of the approximately 8 million New York City residents are foreign-born. Significant numbers of people from drug source and transit countries reside in various parts of the HIDTA region. For instance, the Jackson Heights section of Queens contains the largest Colombian community outside Colombia, and the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan--the center of drug activity in the city--is home to a large concentration of Dominican-born residents.

The NY/NJ HIDTA region has a well-developed transportation infrastructure (including interstate highways, international airports, a seaport, and passenger rail and bus services) that is ideally suited for the movement of illicit drugs and drug proceeds to and from the region. Interstate 95, the major north-south route on the East Coast, is most frequently used by traffickers to transport illicit drugs to and from New York City. Drug shipments arriving in the NY/NJ HIDTA region typically are divided into smaller quantities for local distribution within the region and transportation to other areas throughout and outside the region. Drugs supplied to Upstate New York are typically transported by traffickers along I-87 and I-90. Illicit drugs also are transported overland to the region from the West Coast, Southwest Border states, and Canada. John F. Kennedy (JFK) International, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty International Airports offer numerous flights daily to and from the region, and drug traffickers often exploit them to facilitate drug transportation. The Port of New York/New Jersey is the largest container port complex on the East Coast of North America and provides opportunities for maritime smuggling. Additionally, New York has an extensive intercity passenger rail system that enables drug traffickers to freely move throughout the city to supply drug markets.

Footnotes

1. For the purposes of this report, Upstate New York refers to the area of New York State outside the area of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County. Areas referred to as being located in western New York (Buffalo, etc.) are included in Upstate New York.
2. These counties were added to the HIDTA region because of their emerging role as key distribution centers for illicit drugs originating in New York City and because of the increasing presence of New York City-based drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in the counties.
3. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2007 estimated population of the New York metropolitan area is 45 percent Caucasian, 27 percent African American, 27 percent Hispanic, 10 percent Asian and Pacific Islander, and less than 1 percent Native American, Eskimo, or Aleut.

End of page.