Staten Islander involved in major citywide drug ring pleads to conspiracy

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — An ex-convict from Westerleigh who’s currently serving a prison sentence for possessing drugs on Staten Island added to his list of convictions with a guilty plea to conspiracy for his role in a citywide narcotics ring.

Peter Faustin, 59, was among nine suspects busted in September for allegedly distributing heroin and fentanyl on Staten Island, as well as supplying narcotics in the Bronx and Manhattan’s Upper West Side, said authorities.

Faustin was one of two Staten Islanders charged, along with Anthony DeVito, 38.

The long-term investigation kicked off in September 2017 and focused on former borough resident Steven Ildefonso, 40; Faustin and DeVito, authorities said.

Despite moving to the Bronx, Ildefonso regularly commuted to Staten Island to oversee the drug business, said officials. He would be picked up by car at the St. George Ferry Terminal and driven around to transact deals, authorities said.

According to an indictment, Ildefonso sold heroin on multiple occasions to undercover officers between September and November 2017, as well as in March of this year.

The deals occurred around the borough in St. George, New Dorp and Randall Manor, the indictment said.

Ildefonso, Faustin and DeVito peddled heroin, fentanyl, fentanyl analogues (chemically similar substances) in individual-dose packets, authorities said.

The defendants sold opioids of varying types and potency interchangeably or mixed together, said officials.

Bridget G. Brennan, the city’s special narcotics prosecutor, said an investigation by District Attorney Michael E. McMahon’s office helped upend the citywide drug supply chain.

Earlier this year, cops identified Ildefonso’s narcotics suppliers through a court-sanctioned wiretap obtained by McMahon, said officials.

Faustin recently pleaded guilty in Manhattan state Supreme Court to fourth-degree conspiracy, a felony.

He’s expected to receive a sentence of between one and three years in prison.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 3.

DeVito and Ildefonso’s cases are pending.

Faustin is presently serving a 30-month prison sentence in an unrelated case on Staten Island.

He was sentenced Aug. 22 after previously pleading guilty to third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

The Manhattan sentence will run concurrently to the Staten Island sentence.

The defendant has a criminal history dating to at least 1984, according to online records of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

During that time, he’s served four prior prison sentences for attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny, attempted criminal drug sale and criminal drug sale, those documents show.