Long Island Man Charged With Running Major Drug Operation: Prosecutors

FARMINGDALE, NY - A Farmingdale man was recently arrested for running a drug operation in New York City, according to prosecutors.

Edgar Rodriguez, 49, was among a total of five people involved in three overlapping narcotics operations charged on conspiracy, narcotics and weapon possession charges following a long-term undercover investigation, prosecutors said.

Rodriguez, the alleged head of a lucrative drug delivery service in the Bushwick and parts of Brooklyn, was indicted after police searched his Farmingdale home on Oct. 19 and seized $300,000 cash, a firearm, ammunition, as well as nearly two pounds of cocaine worth $50,000, authorities said.

He was charged with first and third degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second, third and fourth degree criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm and second degree criminally using drug paraphernalia, according to the prosecutor.

All five people were charged in connection with possessing and distributing a total over $70,000 in cocaine during the investigation, dubbed “Operation CityLine.”

Since December 2015, the group is accused of selling $20,000 in cocaine during three-dozen transactions with undercover detectives from the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Narcotics Borough Brooklyn North.

The investigation revealed that Rodriguez oversaw a fleet of registered livery cars that took on no fares, despite bearing official Department of Transportation license plates, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, detectives learned that he deployed these cars to sell narcotics which typically took place at prearranged locations. Customers entered a livery car and were driven a short distance while the transaction took place.

Drivers employed by Rodriguez took orders for cocaine by cell phone and made deliveries throughout the day and into the evening, prosecutors said. An analysis of phone records showed the drivers and Rodriguez received up to 100 calls per day associated with the narcotics trafficking operation, prosecutors said.

After 8 p.m., Rodriguez took over handling calls and deliveries himself in a nondescript Nissan. He would also use his deli in Bushwick as a drug stash home, prosecutors said.

NYPD detectives saw him carrying black plastic bags that they believed contained cocaine and cash between his car and the deli, prosecutors said.

Undercover officers discovered that known customers could buy narcotics from Rodriguez at the deli by purchasing legitimate items and then requesting “candy” at the register, prosecutors said.

The investigation revealed that the organization made a total of $28,000 per week.

“This organization was wide-ranging and resourceful – using registered livery cabs and selling cocaine as ‘candy’ at a neighborhood deli," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said. "But the operation drained the community of far more than the quarter of a million dollars seized from Edgar Rodriguez’s Farmingdale home. This highly-organized narcotics caterer stoked violence and addiction."