Man Arranged LI Heroin Sales While In Jail: DA

An alleged MS-13 associate has been arraigned on charges of conspiracy and operating as a major drug trafficker for allegedly brokering drug deals from inside a federal prison in Mississippi that led to drugs being sold up and down the East Coast, including on Long Island.

Daniel Rivera Diaz, aka JD Primo, 34, of Yakima, Washington, was arraigned today and charged with operating as a major trafficker and two counts of second-degree conspiracy. He is due back in court Nov. 13, and bail was set at $300,000 bond or cash. If convicted of the top count, Diaz faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

“This defendant allegedly facilitated the distribution of deadly heroin up and down the East Coast,” said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. “Today’s arraignment demonstrates the success of our unrelenting pursuit to get MS-13 members and their associates off our streets. This gang has brought violence and drugs into our most vulnerable immigrant communities, but law enforcement stands united in our effort to dismantle MS-13.”

According to Singas, Diaz, while incarcerated in the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Mississippi, brokered at least two multi-kilogram heroin drug deals with the Mexican Mafia for the alleged leader of the MS-13 Sailors Clique, Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, aka Reaper, using a cell phone he smuggled into the prison. Corea Diaz and other indicted co-defendants then allegedly trafficked the heroin on Long Island, in the Bronx, in Baltimore, Houston, Long Branch, N.J., and Jefferson County, Texas.

“In the drug world, there is always a source behind a source who supplies dealers with poison," DEA Special Agent in Charge James Hunt said. "‘Primo’ was a major heroin supplier for MS-13 in the northeast and today he will come face to face with the consequences of his crime.”

Beginning in May 2017, the Nassau County DA and the DEA began an investigation into the alleged criminal activity of several MS-13 members, including Diaz.

In January, Singas announced the indictment of 17 alleged members and associates of MS-13 on murder, conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking charges. Fifteen others charged in the indictment, in addition to Diaz, have been arraigned. One person has yet to be apprehended.

Photo courtesy Nassau County District Attorney's office