Heroin Supplier For Grape Street Crips Gang Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

NEWARK, N.J. – A narcotics supplier for the New Jersey Grape Street Crips was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for distributing hundreds of grams of heroin in and around Newark, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced today.

Gabriel Henderson, 36, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty before the U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin. Judge Salas imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Henderson admitted that between December 2014 and May 2015, he conspired with others to distribute brick quantities of heroin to members and associates of the Grape Street Crips. Henderson and his conspirators sold heroin in and around the Pennington Court public-housing complex located on Pennington Street and the John W. Hyatt public-housing complex located on Hawkins Street, both in Newark.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Salas sentenced Henderson to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the DEA, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski in Newark, and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark, for the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked prosecutors and detectives of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray; police officers and detectives of the Newark Department of Public Safety, under the direction of Director Anthony F. Ambrose; and the Essex County Sheriff’s Office under the direction of Armando B. Fontoura, for their assistance in this case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Osmar J. Benvenuto and Barry Kamar of the Criminal Division in Newark.             

This case was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, a partnership, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

Defense counsel: Howard B. Brownstein, Union City, New Jersey