65 people charged in fentanyl, heroin, cocaine bust in Central NY

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Dozens of people linked to two drug rings have been charged with trafficking fentanyl, heroin and cocaine in Upstate New York, the state attorney general announced Thursday.

An Onondaga County grand jury has indicted 65 people in connection with a Central New York drug bust. State Attorney General Letitia James announced the bust during a news conference in Syracuse on Thursday afternoon.

Over $340,000 worth of drugs were seized, officials said.

The 15-month investigation dubbed “Operation Central City” targeted drug dealers in five counties: Jefferson County, Oneida County, Onondaga County, Oswego County and St. Lawrence County.

Investigators used wiretaps and “covert surveillance” to catch the drug dealers, the AG said.

During the bust, police recovered:

• About 4,700 bags of prepackaged heroin and fentanyl with a street value of about $140,000
• About 2 kilos of cocaine with a street value of about $200,000
• Over $75,000 in cash
• 3 firearms

The defendants are facing crimes ranging from criminal sale of a controlled substance to conspiracy. They face a minimum sentence 1 to 3 years and a maximum sentence of 8 to 25 years in state prison.

“We are attacking this opioid crisis both as a civil matter and also with criminal prosecution,” James said. “But at the same time we recognize how serious this is and the fact that so many individuals have lost loved ones. We are committed to taking these drugs off the street because they are wreaking havoc and destroying families.”

The multi-agency investigation brought together resources of nearly two dozen state, local and federal agencies. More than 100 officers took part this morning in arresting about 95 percent of the 65 people named in the indictment.

The first indictment included 33 defendants who are accused of selling narcotics in Onondaga, St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties.

Shondell Days, of Syracuse, is accused of providing narcotics to Hillary Gilson, Salean Simmons and numerous other St. Lawrence County drug dealers.

Simmons also had several other narcotics sources besides Days, including Robert Vega, Corey Tisdale, Felix Cirino and Chyna Simon-Hess, all of Jersey City, New Jersey; and Carlos Arroyo, of Watertown.

The second indictment included 34 defendants, including two who also appear in the first indictment.

The indictment alleges that Abdulla Quaid, Adam Durham and Louis Mike led a Syracuse-based narcotics distribution network that sold cocaine, heroin and fentanyl to drug resellers in Onondaga, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Oswego and Oneida counties.

“This has been the accumulation of long-term investigations,” said St. Lawrence Sheriff Kevin Wells. “The bad guys out there are getting more complex on how they do business, we have to also. … We all realize that we can’t arrest our way out of this drug issue that we have in our community.”

Wells said the arrests are the first steps to getting the drugs off the streets.

James said opioids are destroying lives.

“That is why we are committed to taking down these operations,” James said. “Operations that flood our communities with dangerous drugs that truly take lives, destroy families, destroy dreams and destroy lives.”

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