fentanyl
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Everyone needs a side hustle, but an NYPD officer’s side gig has landed her and her boyfriend behind bars as the two were busted Thursday (Oct. 19), for allegedly peddling fentanyl in New York City.
Gothamist is reporting that Officer Grace Rosa Baez and her boo, Cesar Martinez, were taken into custody on Thursday and charged on Friday in Manhattan Federal Court with one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics and three counts of distributing narcotics. Authorities used a “confidential source” to catch Baez red-handed as she offered said source two kilograms of “top quality” fentanyl for $30,000 along with 400 grams of heroin at the same price. Baez was trying to make bank out on these streets.
After meeting the source at the couple’s “shared” Yonkers apartment and giving them a sample bag of the deadly drug, Baez met with the source again Oct. 19, and handed over a kilo of heroin and up to 640 grams of fentanyl. That was all authorities needed to make the bust.
Gothamist reports:
In a prepared statement, Williams alleged that Baez “flagrantly violated” her oath to “protect and serve the people of New York City … by pushing poison, including fentanyl and heroin, which are driving the nation’s deadly opioid crisis and have been responsible for thousands of tragic deaths in this city and around the nation.”
The charges resulted from an investigation carried out this month by law enforcement officials working with an unnamed “confidential source,” per SDNY.
According to the complaint, Baez and Martinez offered to sell the source kilogram quantities of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine on multiple occasions between Oct. 9 and Oct. 19.
With the evidence in hand and seriousness of the charges, Baez and her boo are facing 10 years to life in prison under federal drug statutes.
“These charges are extremely troubling because there is no place for corruption within the NYPD,” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said in a prepared statement, according to Gothamist. “If found guilty of these allegations, this officer will have tarnished the shield that she wore, as well as her sacred oath to New Yorkers.”
After facing the judge Friday (Oct. 20), Baez was released on $100,000 bail and placed on home confinement complete with an ankle monitor.
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You know things are bad out on these streets when even Mexican drug cartels are banning the production of fentanyl under the penalty of death.
Sounds like an oxymoron of sorts but according to the Wall Street Journal, that’s exactly what’s going on south of the border. El Chapo’s old Sinaloa Cartel is prohibiting the production and trafficking of fentanyl due to pressure from U.S. law enforcement. Apparently every other drug is fair game, though. The new order was handed down by El Chapo’s four sons (better known as the “Chapitos”) who have taken the reigns of the deadly cartel in place of their locked-down daddy.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The directive from the most powerful faction within the criminal group aims to evade pressure from U.S. law enforcement, operatives say, though some U.S. officials are skeptical that the ban will endure.
The Biden administration is pushing the Mexican government to take more aggressive steps to dismantle the organization, considered by the U.S. to be the top fentanyl trafficking group. U.S. deaths from fentanyl have become an American political issue, with some Republicans, including lawmakers and others running for president, advocating to send the U.S. military into Mexico to fight criminal groups trafficking fentanyl.
For the many people in this northwestern Mexican region who make a living producing and smuggling an opioid that has killed tens of thousands of Americans, the message was clear: stop or die. In June, when the shift away from fentanyl began, three bodies covered with blue pills of the drug appeared on the outskirts of Culiacán.
Opioid and fentanyl was simply killing off too many people in communities that Republicans and company care about. Where was this kind of concern when the crack epidemic hit our neighborhoods like a tidal wave? Just sayin’.
Being that fentanyl production is about to drop like cryptocurrency stock, authorities expect the export of others drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroine to rise in order to make up for the financial loss these cartels will suffer under their new directive. Regardless of how light their pockets will get, no one wants to cross the Chapitos as they’ve taken to spreading their message through banners being hung on billboards and overpasses in Mexico.
“In Sinaloa, the sale, manufacture, transport or any kind of business involving the substance known as fentanyl, including the sale of chemical products for its elaboration, is permanently banned,” the banners read, according to WSJ. “You have been warned. Sincerely yours, the Chapitos.”
Message received and noted.
What do y’all think of the Sinaloa Cartel deciding to fall back from their fentanyl production under the threat from U.S. authorities? Let us know in the comments section below.
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A drug dealer was sentenced to 30 months in prison in connection with the overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams.
On Tuesday (July 25), Carlos Macci entered the Federal District Court in Manhattan, New York. Addressing the court and U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, Macci said “I would like to say, your honor, I’m sorry for what has happened.” Judge Abrams then sentenced the 72-year-old to two and a half years in prison.
Macci also was sentenced to three years of supervised release with the first year requiring him to be an inpatient at a drug treatment facility. “I don’t think people need to be defined by the worst mistake they’ve ever made,” Judge Abrams said. “You still have a chance to define yourself in a positive way.”
Before her decision was made, there were those who appeared at the hearing to ask for leniency for Macci in the sentencing. Williams’ nephew, Dominic Dupont, said: “It weighs heavy on me to see someone be in a situation he’s in. I understand what it is to be system impacted.”
David Simon, the creator of the HBO series The Wire in which Williams famously starred, submitted a three-page letter to the judge also asking for leniency, citing Macci’s age and his illiteracy. “What happened to Mike is a grievous tragedy,” Simon wrote. “But I know that Michael would look upon the undone and desolate life of Mr. Macci and know two things with certainty: First, that it was Michael who bears the fuller responsibility for what happened.” Judge Abrams would later state that she disagreed with Simon about the responsibility of overdoses laying with the victims.
Macci pled guilty in April along with three other men to conspiracy to possess and sell narcotics. This group also includes Irwin Cartagena, also known as “Green Eyes” who was identified by police as the head of the operation who sold Williams the drugs. The veteran actor who also starred in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and Lovecraft Country, died of an overdose in his Brooklyn apartment in September 2021. He was 54. After the sentencing, Dupont referred to it as a “sad day.” “There are no winners today,” he said to reporters.
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An FDA tranquilizer has become a popular new street drug in America, causing major concerns as one of its side effects causes flesh rotting in users among other harmful effects.
According to reports, public health officials and law enforcement have seen a spike in usage of the drug xylazine in cities across the country. Commonly known on the streets as “tranq”, xylazine is a tranquilizer that veterinarians use to sedate horses and has been known to cause grave side effects in users such as the tightening of blood vessels leading to abscesses and skin ulcers that if untreated can rot down to the bone.
Worse still is that xylazine has been found by authorities to be coupled with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin. That combination has led to a sharp rise in fatal overdoses recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in three years from 260 in 2018 to 3,480 in 2021. Data compiled shows that xylazine-positive overdose deaths rose tenfold in southern U.S. states since 2020, and sevenfold in western states. Philadelphia and New York City have also seen sharp upticks in overdoses including fatal ones linked to xylazine over the same period of time.
Authorities have expressed concern about tranq’s rise, with Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Dr. Rahul Gupta declaring it an emerging threat in May in a report issued through the White House. “Testing for xylazine is uneven across the United States, which makes it hard to get the national picture,” he said in the report. “Many communities are not even aware of this threat in their backyards.”
Observers have noted that the rise of xylazine combined with fentanyl might be due to the recent crackdowns on fentanyl on the streets. “That’s really driven drug manufacturers to start to integrate xylazine into the supply. It’s cheaper and it also makes the high last longer,” said Maritza Perez Medina, a researcher with the Drug Policy Alliance. Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opines that “Maybe the products are coming already mixed into the United States,” citing drug-sample data collected by law enforcement in Mexico.
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Coolio was a beloved rapper and actor who amassed a number of notable hits in the 1990s, and his passing last September left many of his fans and peers in shock. While speculation swirled heavily regarding the rapper’s cause of death, his manager has come forth with details.
Deadline obtained confirmation from the manager for Coolio, Jared Posey, who shared with the outlet that his client passed away from complications arising from exposure to the deadly substance fentanyl. In addition to fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines were also found in his system.
He is best known for his Grammy Award-winning single “Gangsta’s Paradise” which appeared on the soundtrack for the film, Dangerous Minds. The Compton, Calif. native also dropped the hit single “Fantastic Voyage” in 1994, and was a member of WC and the Maad Circle.
Beyond music, Coolio appeared on the reality television series Big Brother and released the best-selling cookbook, Cookin’ with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price.
Coolio’s real name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr. He was 59 at the time of his death.
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